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FARMINGTON -- Twice a month, local residents gather to share the history of Farmington and West Farmington with speakers and programs as part of a new club called "Picturing Our Past."
The club meets at 10 a.m. the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at the Farmington Senior Center.
Linda Evans, director of the senior center, said the program is a history series.
"We try to keep the topics on local history. We have about six regulars who attend all the time and share information," Evans said.
Doreen Walker, a local author who has written books on Farmington, was a recent speaker.
She has written about local history, residents and alumni.
Old photos are shown and stories are shared on what is in the township now and what was in the township then, and who built what and where.
"I love being able to come here and share information on the local community," Walker said.
She said her aunt, Dorothy Anthony, who worked at the Tribune Chronicle as an editor for 40 years, inspired her to write.
"I have found that Farmington people tend to be very loyal. They grew up here and went to school here and have many fond memories of the community they like to share. It doesn't surprise me when we have many people attend the programs. People tell me they did not know that at one time Farmington was a culture center with an Opera House. We had many businesses, including doctor's offices and a creamery. There was a college at one time in the village center," Walker said.
Evans said many people do not realize the community has had theaters, a monastery, a college and many businesses that are no longer located here. She said some were destroyed by fire and never rebuilt.
"I do what I can to preserve the history and share and teach it to as many people as I can," she said.
A future talk will be on a local family who has letters from the 1850s who later moved out west She also has letters from the early 1900s from a local family who worked in the Akron area but had family here. They traded letters back and forth.
Walker also has been able to collect newspaper clippings of different events and people from the 1800s and early 1900s.
"I have taken the newspaper clippings and tried to find out as much as I can on the people and places in the pictures and stories," she said.
She said the group is using maps and landowner information to see what can be discovered.
"We enjoy working on biographies of people who lived in the community. We try to get a living sense of what Farmington was like when they were here. We have seen how Farmington has changed over the years," she said.
Walker said the club name "Picturing Our Past" came about because she is very picture oriented.
Evans said she is not a native of Farmington and has only lived her for five years, so the information she collects does bring her up to date on people and businesses.
She said some of her own relatives helped with the development of Farmington in the 1950s.
Walker's books have included topics on West Farmington, alumni from the Farmington local schools, West Farmington festivals and other events.