The Behringer-Crawford Museum is a hidden gem in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area. I have lived in Cincinnati for almost two decades and I just learned about it when I saw an advertisement for the new Cher Costume display. I visited the museum to see their collections right before the state and local “stay at home” decree was announced a few weeks ago.
The museum is located near Devou Park in Covington, Kentucky. The “William Behringer Memorial Museum” opened July 5th, 1950 showing off the collections of a late world traveler. William Behringer was a self-educated naturalist and traveled extensively throughout the world. He brought back all kinds of adventure stories and unusual artifacts from his travels.
In 1949, after William’s death, his family bequeathed his collection of fossils, minerals, and animal specimens to the City of Covington. Ellis Crawford was a friend of Behringer and he recommended the vacant house in Devou Park be set up as a museum for the artifacts. Crawford was a naturalist and an archeologist and he became the first curator of the museum. Crawford also made major discoveries in archeology at Big Bone Lick during his tenure at the museum.
The museum has permanent displays showing selections on natural history, archeology, paleontology, mineralogy, rivers and steamboats, industry, folk art, politics, frontier home life, and the Civil War. Their mission is to preserve the regional history of Northern Kentucky as part of the Ohio Valley for future generations.
One of my favorite exhibits at the museum was The Ludlow Diorama that features a line of LGB model train cards that belonged to Ray Faragher. I always love to see these miniature cities on display and appreciate all the hard to work that is required to create them.