Fund Raiser Meeting - April 1

We are scheduling a meeting on Friday, April 1, to actively kick off fund raising efforts in a serious way. Anyone interested in attending this meeting, we will be at the Museum (by the Post Office) at 10:00 a.m. to get started. Come on in and join us!

Business Expo - 2011

We had a great day at the Expo March 26! The booth space was terrific - in the hall area as people walked into the main room! Dorothy and Virginia were both there by 8:00 a.m. getting set up for the public! Virginia brought along information about the Powell Bridge (you can check out their blog from our links page) while Dorothy prepared the Society's portion. How great it is to have such hard workers for the Society! A couple of memberships were collected, some folks were able to pick up their 2011 calendars, and a lot of publicity was obtained about the Secession event scheduled for May 21! Dorothy was excited to recite all of the facts she has compiled about the Secession while Carol canvassed the public for volunteers to protect our Territory!! Bill Lant was available at the County's booth and I overheard him talking to a few folks about the funder on the May 21 event as well. Our Fund Raiser to save the Old Courthouse is shaping up to be a great success and how exciting to have so much fun celebrating our 50 year anniversary of being the ONLY COUNTY IN THE NATION to ever seceed from their home state! That would be McDonald County. What moxie!

Heating and Air Estimates

Well, we have good news and bad news.... The good news is that Mike's Heating and Air has told us the project to install central heat/air is doable! We were concerned because of the heavy brick walls and our desire to leave the rooms as original as possible. The bad news is the cost. It will run us somewhere in the area of $15 to $20 thousand..... Boy, do we need some donations!

Work Day - March 26

Well, I forgot to post again about the work day! It was a great day though! We have sparked the interest of several young people. Woo hooo!!!! Thank you Brent! We enjoy having you, and it will be a great story to tell your grandchildren some day. There are only bits and peices of the paneling left around those hard to get to areas. All of the false ceilings are down. It sure looks different. We will be working again next week.... cleaning up and getting ready for the heating and air to be installed.

Secession Presentation - Sunday, March 20

COME JOIN US, 2:00 P.M., AT THE "NEW" COURTHOUSE TO LEARN ABOUT THE FACTS OF THE SECESSION EVENT FROM 1961! MORE DETAILS WILL BE REVEALED BY DOROTHY, AND A SPECIAL GUEST WILL READ HER PARENTS' ACCOUNT OF THE PERIOD WHEN HER FATHER WAS THE LEADER OF THE TERRITORIAL MILITIA

Questions to Ponder ????

Did you ever wonder how folks got to the second floor of the courthouse in 1875? There is no trace of the stairway. We have uncovered the original headers around the door.

Did you ever wonder why there is a cut place in the flooring of the old courtroom all the way across? Some speculate to install electric while others propose the original railing was there. Hmmm.... Come give us your opinion.

When do you think those beautiful hardwood beams were placed in the majestic courtroom, only to have been hidden at a later date by a lowered false ceiling? Hmmm. Some might believe it was during the 1870s, but then how would that "green" paint get underneath the ceiling that we know was in the courthouse in 1938. Just curious....

Wonder why a ceiling fan would have been hung with electrical wire? Well.... so do we! Hmmmm.

It's really fun working with young folks... The story of the civil war and Jesse James was relived over lunch break. Do you ever think about how important it is to preserve our county heritage? Well.... I, for one, think about it often and was reminded how important this is today! -- raylene

If you have a "Do you wonder?" comment, please post it here so others can see it, ponder a while, and smile.

Work Day - March 19

Getting this post in early.... before I forget. We will be having another work day on Saturday, March 19. Some of our folks are going to be out of town, so anyone that can, please come help. We are doing some clean up, and getting ready to have the drywall delivered. Hope to see you all there! Think we'll have sandwiches and chips for this day. Come enjoy lunch with us!

Work Day - May 12 - Asbestos Checked!

Looks like I slipped again! Didn't get a message sent to announce the work day. Sure glad you all are getting used to us working every Saturday! We had a great turn out! Jenny sent pizza for all the volunteers. We had 10 folks work the entire day and 4 pop in for a few hours! Whew, what a great day! - Also, for all of those concerned folks who have called me, please rest assured we have no asbestos! Bob Hamilton is AHERA Certified. He showed up and ruled out any asbestos. Of course, we already knew we were safe, but it's a great idea to have that label behind the name just to cover the bases. So now everyone can rest easy and come on over to see the progress! We are moving right along with the tear off phase. It's amazing how much bigger the rooms appear without dark paneling on them. By the way, was anyone around in 1900 to tell us how folks got to the second floor of the courthouse? We thought we might uncover some stairs or something, but no such luck.

Meeting - March 20

Dorothy Beauchamp is our speaker for the March 20 meeting. She will be presenting information and artifacts she has collected about the Secession and the compilation of our 2011 calendar! Attending the presentation will be Patty Stephens Buck, the daughter of Jim Stephens. Jim was the Militia leader for the Territory in 1961. Patty will be displaying one of the guns made by the Militia specifically for use during the uprising. Our meeting will be at the "NEW" courthouse at 2:00 p.m. Come join us for the fun!

An Exciting Surprise!

Okay.... the fund raiser is shaping up to be really, REALLY surprising! We have a special event planned.... Keep watching as the story unfolds!