Longtime Niles History Center Director Carol Bainbridge is retiring after nearly 20 years of service to the Niles community.

Her last day is Dec. 18.

Bainbridge said she decided it was time to retire because she will be turning 62 in December — the age for full retirement for the City of Niles. She also plans to devote more time to an antique booth and appraisal business she and her husband, David, run. It is called David Bainbridge Appraisals.

“It is time to move on because I am moving into another phase,” she said.

Of all the things she has accomplished in 18 1/2 years, Bainbridge said she is most proud of the relationship she developed with the family of Sitting Bull’s great-grandson, Ernie LaPointe. The Fort St. Joseph Museum that Bainbridge oversees contains pictographs honoring the legacy of Sitting Bull.

“That is huge in my mind because the pictographs are such an important part of this museum and to establish a relationship with his great-grandson — it was just huge,” she said.

Bainbridge recalled a visit with LaPointe several years after his initial visit to Niles, when he brought the leggings that Sitting Bull was wearing the day he was killed.

“Ernie allowed me to put them on exhibit for two months,” she said. “I held those leggings, with white gloves on, of course, and thought to myself how strange life is that a museum curator in Niles, Michigan is holding the leggings actually worn by Sitting Bull when he was killed, and that Sitting Bull’s great-grandson trusted me to handle them and place them on exhibit.”

Bainbridge said another highlight was being present the day that structural remains were uncovered at the Fort St. Joseph archaeology site in Niles, along the St. Joseph River.

She also said she is proud of helping turn the Chapin Mansion into a house museum after City Hall relocated out of the mansion and into

another building.

More than 500 visitors came to the grand opening of the Chapin Mansion as a house museum in May 2012.

“I never thought that Carol’s concept to transition the Chapin Mansion to a mansion museum would come to fruition, but her sheer dedication, thoughtfulness and commitment allowed the community access to a page in history retold under Carol’s watchful eye,” said Juan Ganum, the former supervisor of Bainbridge.

The City of Niles will host a celebration of Bainbridge’s career from 2 to 4 p.m. Nov. 10 at the Niles District Library.

The leadership of the Niles History Center will transition to Christina Hirn Arseneau, the outgoing Director of the Heritage Museum and Cultural Center in St. Joseph.

She said she is thrilled to begin as the museum director for the Niles History Center.

“Niles has wonderful history and I look forward to working with the community to ensure our history is preserved and shared,” she said. “Connecting past, present and future has always been the focus of my career. I believe that the history of Niles is key to its revitalization and will put us on the map as a wonderful place to live and visit.”