Houdini Historical Center

While I’m not specifically a Houdini nut, I love a good quirky museum. One of the things I really enjoyed about visiting this spot was the building itself, formerly a Masonic temple built in 1923. The flooring and woodwork were beautiful. But as far as the Houdini exhibit, I wasn’t blown away. Several of the interactive pieces were not working.
I did enjoy that you could get inside some of the items, like the milk can and a straight jacket, but I wouldn’t recommend a trip here just for the Houdini exhibit. The History Museum at the Castle does have other exhibits, which depending on what’s in house could make your visit more worthwhile.

Houdini has has not been here for a long time, nor did he and his family, headed up by an early rabbi of Appleton, stay here for very long. But Appleton has adopted him as it’s Native Son. The center, placed on College Av right where Lawrence ends and the business district begins, is the former home of the Waverly Masonic Temple. The high level of craftsmanship from the Masons who built this building sure shows. A fitting place for a Houdini Center, who became a Mason in his final days.
I visited the Museum attending a wedding on the top floor. We wove past exhibits of Houdini and circuses on the way up. The main meeting hall was small, but very classy. Such a treat for kids and grownups alike in the various displays.
Recently I stopped by to pick up a copy of the Houdini walking tour. All stops were quite accessible from the Historical Center.
This is the base for Outagamie County Historical Society. All that was local lies here.
Museums are for winter time. If you only go once, now is the time.

If you’re in the Appleton area and looking for something to do, check out the Houdini Historical Center. It’s interactive, which is nice if you have some bored kids on your hands or are really into magic.
I was a bit disappointed that there weren’t many Houdini artifacts. There were displays of handcuffs «like the handcuffs that Houdini used». Bah! There was a full body straight jacket that he used, but that’s about the only real artifact that they had.
It was also pretty small. We breezed through it in about a half an hour but we got to learn some of Houdini’s tricks («Illusions, Michael. A trick is something a whore does for money.»)