Main Content

Upcoming Programs and Events

September 17, 2024: “A Killing in Capone’s Playground: The True Story of the Hunt for the Most Dangerous Man Alive”

By Author, Chriss Lyon

“Bloody Chicago” was the name given to America’s most corrupt city after the grotesque scene that left seven humans embedded into masonry walls and oil-slickened concrete. Two Thompson submachine guns did the majority of the damage but the masterminds behind the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre escaped. Ten months later, on December 14, 1929, St. Joseph, Michigan Police Officer Charles Skelly working a routine traffic crash came face to face with a killer. Shots were fired, the assailant escaped, and the dying Officer Skelly identified his murderer before taking his last breath. The “backwash of bloody Chicago” had made its way into the rural neighborhoods of Southwestern Michigan and Northern Indiana. Citizens who turned a blind eye to crime helped create “Capone’s Playground,” an environment abundant in all that is illegal and immoral.

Chriss Lyon is a retired public safety professional and historian, who has not only walked the beat, but shot the most famous Thompson submachine guns in the world, all while documenting and researching the historic era of the “The Roaring Twenties.” Using techniques of forensic genealogy combined with investigative research, she has been able to uncover little known facts about the people and events surrounding the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, revealing them at presentations at schools, museums, genealogical, and historical societies. Her passion in Prohibition-era gangsters, maritime, and aviation history as well as historical weather has afforded opportunities to write articles for various magazines and journals and assist other authors with historical research. A graduate of Grand Valley State University’s Film/Video School, Chriss began working behind the scenes at CNN Headline News but now is out in front of the camera. She has appeared in an episode of the PBS series, “History Detectives” as well as documentaries on the National Geographic Channel, American Heroes Network, Travel Channel, German Public Television, and Investigation Discovery Channel.

October 1, 2024: The House of David: Now and Then

By Brian D. Carroll, PhD

“The House of David: Now and Then” presents the short history of the House of David commune in Benton Harbor from 1903 to the present. It provides an overview of the religion and also focuses on the House of David’s numerous businesses, including farms, cold storage plant, touring vaudeville showbands, amusement park, and its famous exhibition baseball team. Current preservation and restoration efforts at the colony are covered and the presentation includes many rare historic photographs, film and audio clips.

Brian D. Carroll is the historian and archivist for the Israelite House of David in Benton Harbor, Michigan. He has worked in museums and higher education for more than twenty-five years.

View More Upcoming Programs and Events

Concert Series

Sunday, November 17, 2024 at 3 pm – Lisa Sung

The 2024-25 Scott Club Concert Series will kick off on Sunday, November 17th with a delightful concert by Grand Rapids pianist, Lisa Sung.  Lisa will play her jazz arrangements of children’s songs from the US, Korea, Indonesia and Vietnam and talk about her musical journey as a mom of six children, and full-time musician.  She […]

Programs are FREE and open to all!

All programs begin at 1:00 p.m. unless noted otherwise. This year’s programs and concerts will be a hybrid of in-person (at the Scott Club unless noted otherwise) and online. Non-members/guests please send email to info@scottclub.org to request a Zoom link.

The South Haven Scott Club was organized in 1883 as a reading circle and has been providing cultural events to the community ever since then in its Michigan historic site. Located at the corner of Phoenix Road and Pearl Street in South Haven, Scott Club is a stately Queen Anne style building of sandstone capped by a cupola of carved oak. Two historic windows of Austrian stained glass frame our east and west walls and serve as a cultural icon to the east entrance to the city.

Supporters:

Activities supported in part by the MICHIGAN ARTS AND CULTURE COUNCIL and the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS.