Dubois County Museum named best museum in Indiana contest

Dubois County Museum has claimed a statewide title that puts Jasper on a bigger map. Readers of Indiana Connection Magazine named the museum Best Museum in the 2026 Best of Indiana contest, giving Dubois County a rare boost that is both symbolic and practical: more county pride now, and more reason for visitors to make the trip later.

The honor matters because the museum is not a small local stop. The museum says it is the largest county museum in Indiana, with more than 56,000 items in its collection and more than 50,000 square feet of exhibit space. It welcomes more than 12,000 visitors a year and traces the region’s history from the Ice Age through the present, a span that gives first-time visitors and lapsed guests plenty to see in one stop.

For anyone planning a visit, the museum’s biggest draws are the kinds of displays that reward a slow walk through the building. Among the features highlighted by the museum are 14 community murals, a 17-room Main Street display modeled on the 1890s, a two-pen log house built in 1885, a wild game safari display and a model train exhibit. Those pieces help explain why the museum can appeal to families, school groups and tourists looking for a day-trip destination in Dubois County.

The contest itself was a tight one. Indiana Connection narrowed nominees to three finalists in each category, and the voting deadline for the 2026 awards was June 5. Dubois County Museum had already been announced as a finalist on May 18 before being named the winner, and Britt Davis, the magazine’s editor, said the winners will be featured in an August cover story. That extra coverage will give the museum another statewide platform beyond the contest announcement.

The recognition also fits a longer record of institutional credibility. The museum was founded in August 1999, and it has previously received the Indiana Historical Society’s Outstanding Historical Organization Award in 2010 and a Certificate of Commendation for General Excellence from the American Association for State and Local History in 2005. For a county museum in Jasper, the new title reinforces what those earlier honors already suggested: Dubois County has a cultural institution that can compete with some of Indiana’s best-known museum names.