Phlipot
By Jane Bailey
For the Sidney Daily News
SIDNEY — February 2024 marks the silver anniversary of the Shelby County Historical Society’s fearless leader Matilda “Tilda” Phlipot. For 25 years, she has been working at the society, first as administrative assistant and then as director.
According to the Historical Highlights, the Society’s newsletter, Phlipot was originally hired to “support volunteer activities of the fast-growing organization” under the direction of Jim Sayre. At this time, the Society’s membership had jumped from less than 200 members to more than 500 within a year’s time after the successful “Give Your History a Home” campaign in 1998 to establish the William A. Ross Jr. Historical Center at 201 N. Main Ave. in downtown Sidney.
She began working part time, focusing on accounting and member services. As we all know, however, no job is as simple as its brief description. With the aid of multiple volunteers and even her own children, Phlipot and the rest of the society’s team began remodeling their new home.
By December 1999, Jim Sayre retired, still agreeing to volunteer his time and services, and Phlipot was named the new acting director. By this point, the society had more than reached its goal of acquiring $250,000 to restore and equip its new home.
On Jan. 19, 2000, a ribbon- cutting ceremony and open house was held to officially open the Ross Historical Center, home of the Shelby County Historical Society.
Over the next several years, the SCHS continued its award-winning children’s programs under the direction of Phlipot. As the Ohio Bicentennial approached in 2003, Phlipot took the initiative in forming multiple local committees for programs and events to celebrate the historic landmark, one of which resulted in the Applefest held every fall in downtown Sidney for over a decade.
She also managed to bring a temporary exhibit from the Smithsonian Institute to the Ross Historical Center in downtown Sidney. Another memorable event was the painting of a barn on state Route 29 with the Ohio Bicentennial logo. The barn remained standing until just a few years ago.
As the years progressed, Phlipot focused on carrying out the Shelby County Historical Society’s mission: “To actively engage our community to preserve and promote local history.”
One such way was with a project in the early 2000s in collaboration with her daughter Sarah, the Jackson Center Historical Society, The Sidney Daily News and Amos Press. Together, they were able to microfilm 3,000 pages of The Jackson Center News Weekly and preserve them on 11 reels of microfilm. T
his project led the initiative for the “Bring Our History Home” project to catalog and microfilm other small, local news publications that would then be given to both the Amos Memorial Library and the Shelby County Historical Society to be used for research.
Programs geared to impact the children of Shelby County were high on Phlipot’s priority list. She worked with the Just for Kids Committee to create the Civil War Educational Day at the Shelby County Fairgrounds.
This educational program invites every eighth-grade student in Shelby County, offering them insight into both sides of the war and how it affected the country. This program later received an award of excellence from both the Ohio History Connection as well as the Civil War 150th Anniversary Committee. To this day, this is one of our best-attended children’s educational events.
Another project to preserve Shelby County’s history was the Veteran’s History Project, which the Shelby County Historical Society ran in conjunction with the schools in Shelby County. Together, they interviewed dozens of veterans from every recent US conflict. These interviews would be archived in Washington D.C. as well as at the historical society.
This was only the first of many veterans’ projects with which the Society would soon be involved. From 2009 to 2016, the historical society aided the Shelby County Vets to D.C. program, with Phlipot making the trip herself on several occasions. However, in 2010, Phlipot and the Shelby County Historical Society would undertake one of the biggest projects they’ve ever accomplished, with lots of help of course.
Late summer of 2010 marked the arrival of the Traveling Vietnam Wall and Field of Flags. This memorable event was chaired by Phlipot of the Shelby County Historical Society and involved multiple organizations throughout Sidney and Shelby County.
This event wasn’t just a replica of the monument in Washington, D.C., but a testament to members of our own community who gave their all fighting for the freedoms we celebrate today. Thousands of veterans, school children, and visitors gathered to view the impressive sight of the black monument with 1,000 American flags spanning the length of Custenborder Field in Sidney. Later that year, Phlipot was named grand marshall for the Winter Wonderland parade due to her efforts in not only creating a magnificent event, but for her overall contributions to bettering the community and preserving its history.
Over the past two decades, the Shelby County Historical Society has undergone many changes. Employees have come and moved on, but Phlipot has remained faithful to the organization. More educational programs have been implemented, such as Manufacturing Day, Pioneer Day and Fishing Day.
The society has received multiple awards at the state level, with the most recent for the creation of our newest building and permanent exhibit: The Wallace Family Learning and Innovation Center. Other new public events have been created, such as the annual Tawawa Park Cruise-In and the biannual Civil War Living History Weekend. In 2022, Phlipot was honored by Shelby County Veterans Services on Veteran’s Day at the Shelby County Fair for all of her efforts aiding local veteran community. She was also chosen by the Ohio Local History Alliance to be a representative for Region 7 as well as to be a part of the America 250 Committee at the state level to create local and statewide programs for the semi-quincentennial celebrations in 2026.
“We are so thankful for all the time and dedication that Tilda has given to the community and to the Shelby County Historical Society. Words cannot describe our gratitude enough for this amazing woman. With luck we will have her for a few more years and look forward to all of her ideas for the society’s future!” said the staff and volunteers at the historical society.
A special open house will be held at the Ross Historical Center, 201 N. Main Ave, Sidney ,on Thursday, Jan. 25, from 3 to 5 p.m. in honor of Phlipot.
