Sunbury residents drive along the south side of Village Square and think of the brick pavers as a piece of history that survived over the past century.
But those brick pavers were not always history. They were the wave of the future, and so were the businesses lining the square.
During the 7:30 p.m. May 10 meeting of the Big Walnut Area Historical Society, Myers Inn Museum curator Polly Horn will show photos of buildings surrounding Sunbury Square and the bricking the streets when the first cars came to Sunbury.
Using old photos from the Sunbury News files and other sources, Horn originally made a collection of slides she took to clubs, and actual photos she carried and shared with groups as they walked around the square.
“These tours became an annual third-grade field trip until the classes became too large to hear over trucks driving through the village on Cherry Street,” Horn said. “The slides were converted to a PowerPoint show that I now take to schools for presentations.”
Horn said the visual tour around the square is part one of two programs scheduled at the historical society featuring Sunbury on its 200th birthday. The second presentation will feature buildings beyond the public square and will be shown in July. Each program is about 45 minutes long.
Horn is a Sunbury native who grew up in the Whitney family, which published the Sunbury News for almost a century. She retired after 30 years of working for Community Library in children’s services and as library director, and is now the museum’s curator.
