Live Speaker Presentations at the Pump House Museum and Learning Center

2282 Ottawa Beach Road. Doors open at 6:30, Programs start at 7:00PM

Great Fennville Michigan train robbery of August 1895 –July 21:

Paul Trap is a professor and historian who lives in downtown Holland. Paul’s presentation will focus on the largest train robbery in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula which took place in 1895 near Fennville. The whole carefully researched story of the robbery, pursuit and investigation. Find out what happened to the Loot!!

Almost Home: The Phoenix disaster of 1847-August 4

Craig Rich, Presenter. In November of 1847, the propeller steamship Phoenix, loaded beyond capacity with passengers, cargo, and crew, caught on fire when just 5 miles from their new home. 250 aboard the Phoenix were forced to choose death by fire or jumping into the freezing water. Only two dozen immigrants survived. This is their story.

Hotel Ottawa Golf Course:Who played there in the early 20th century? August 18.

Paul Wellman is an “everyman golf historian.” Paul came across a 1922 West Michigan Tourist Association travel guide listing twenty-one golf courses from Lakeside, MI, to Mackinac Island, including our own Ottawa Beach Golf Club. Paul took a deep dive into researching it and will give his presentation on the golf course and the personalities that played this course.

Buster Keaton and the Bluffton actor’ colony in Muskegon- August 25.

Ron Pesch is a member of the board of the International Buster Keaton Society. By 1911 over two hundred theater personalities flocked to the Bluffton artists’ colony near Muskegon each summer. They included Buster Keaton and his family. Buster Keaton is recognized, with Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, as one of the creative geniuses of silent film comedy.