"People want to hear compelling stories," says Susan Nenadic, director of the Washtenaw County Historical Society's Museum on Main Street in Ann Arbor. "And we've got plenty of them."

After logging 3,500 miles traveling to dozens of historical museums in the Midwest, Nenadic understands what works and what doesn't. Interactive works. Local stories work. Dry facts and figures, names and dates, do not.

Nenadic put that knowledge to work in designing the exhibit that opened today and will continue through Nov. 29: Murder, Mayhem, and Mischief Come to Washtenaw County.

The Museum on Main Street hosts three exhibits each year, one in the fall, one in the spring, and another in the summer. When an exhibit is ongoing, the museum is transformed to represent the relevant time period. For the Murder, Mayhem, and Mischief Exhibit, the museum is adorned to look like a 19th century sheriff's office.

"WANTED" signs, including a $1,000,000 bounty for a cattle rustler who looks suspiciously like Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje, bedeck the front hall.

Across the hall, in its traditional position above the sheriff's desk, hangs a picture of then-President Chester A. Arthur (1881-1885).

Arthur took the presidency when his predecessor, James Garfield, was assassinated by Charles Guiteau 199 days into his first year as president in 1881.

Charles Guiteau was a nephew of Julia Guiteau, better known in these parts as the wife of Mayor William Maynard. Years before assassinating President Garfield, Charles Guiteau lived in Ann Arbor with the Maynards, when he was trying to gain admission to the University of Michigan.

Washtenaw County's 19th century ties to scandal and mischief don't end there; indeed, both the founding of Ann Arbor and its establishment as the county seat were funded with ill-gotten gains.

Biographical sketches of John Allen often refer to the "financial difficulties" that drove Allen out of Virginia and into Michigan. What they don't always tell is that Allen was trusted by several of his neighbors to bring their cattle to the town market and return with the proceeds. Allen had other ideas, selling the cattle and pocketing the proceeds for himself before coming to Detroit, where he met Ann Arbor co-founder Elisha Rumsey.

These are the stories that students won't find in history books, so it falls to the Museum on Main Street to tell them. The museum is free of charge, subsisting entirely on donations from visitors and the larger community. The museum doesn't receive a dime of subsidy from Washtenaw County.

The Museum on Main Street hopes to pull in 800 visitors for the Murder, Mayhem, and Mischief Exhibit. But in the two hours AnnArbor.com reporters were on site, only three visitors came through - an Ann Arbor couple with an 18-month child. And that's on Opening Day. Next week Football Saturdays will return to monopolize the town's attention.

It's tough for any one museum to draw broad support in Ann Arbor, given the number of social and cultural opportunities available. Only so much can be done about that - namely, as Nenadic explains, putting together engaging, interactive exhibits that tell compelling stories.

But if there's one group that should be taking better advantage of the Museum on Main Street, Nenadic says, it's local teachers - not only in Ann Arbor but across the county. A former history teacher at Saline High School before her retirement in 2004, Nenadic will make it her mission this fall to reach out to fellow educators and show them what the museum has to offer.

"Because of our size we can't fit, say, 60 kids in here at once. It's not always ideal for field trips. I get that," Nenadic says. "But we're even willing to send one of our docents out to give talks - we've got a lot of resources that can help educators spice things up."

The museum also has two traveling exhibits, which local teachers are invited to borrow at any time: "Hats to Spats," a history of clothing in Ann Arbor, and the popular "Life Before Electricity," which tells the improbable tale of how humans managed to get by in a time before e-mail, text messaging and even light bulbs.

Nenadic says that "Life Before Electricity" has been a big hit among students when teachers actually use it. But with a little more than a week left before classes resume across Washtenaw County, both exhibits sit collecting dust behind a ladder in the museum's basement, unused and unrequested.

"We're here for the schools. And we will come to you," Nenadic says. "All they have to do is ask."

James David Dickson reports on human interest stories for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at JamesDickson@annarbor.com or (734) 623-2532.

Photos by Angele Cesere, AnnArbor.com. Top: Susan Nenadic arranges a display in the Murder, Mayhem and Mischief Exhibit at the Museum on Main Street. Bottom: Museum sign and exterior.