through less-than perfect facilities— a former home on Helmsburg Road and the old bowling alley / skating rink, now a craft brewery, just north of town.
“ One really wonderful benefit of the new building is it has environmentally-controlled space for the storage of all the documents and valuable collections of photos, maps, and records.”
The archive is open on Tuesday and Friday afternoons.
In addition to the archives, the Center includes a large public research room, a grand hall with large windows overlooking the town, a large meeting room with kitchen facilities, and rooms for different community groups.
The centerpiece of the building is a log cabin interior that has been recreated in a large room just off the entry to the building.
The“ log cabin” is filled with antique furnishings, including a large collection of laundry day appliances and related items from the 1800s. It
photo by Jeff Tryon also features a permanent display about local nature lover and history buff Jack Weddle.
“ We’ re just getting started and trying to set up some initial exhibits,” Lorenz said.“ The main collection of artifacts is still at the Pioneer Village. There are lots of interesting tools there, along with the looms and the weaving in the pioneer cabin, and the doctor’ s office.”
“ We only think of the artists as being the early 1900s, but there are many current artists who draw on that past, and are pretty creative in the things they are doing now,” she said.“ We have a project for a permanent collection of local artists’ contributions.”
The newest temporary exhibit is a collection of old things people found in their yards and brought to the Historical Society.
The Society’ s board president Ivan Lancaster, Alice Lorenz, and Brenda Maine, chair of the Pioneer Women cut the ribbon. photo by Cindy Steele
“ I think that’ s an important part of it— to inspire people to be interested in things they might find, whether they contribute it to the Historical Society or not,” she said.“ As people come in to visit, they often have things they want to donate. But we for sure only want things with a Brown County connection.”
The impressive exterior stone work, comprised of 100 tons of Brown County Stone, was installed by local artisans Paul Bay and Sons. They were presented the Grover G. Brown Award for“ Outstanding Contributions to Brown County History” at the Center’ s dedication on April 26.
Soon there will be a little replica one-room schoolhouse on the front lawn between the center and the Pioneer Village.
Lorenz said the momentum of the project has attracted new members and put the Historical Society in people’ s minds.
“ We’ ve gained a lot of new members, people want to get involved in passing on the history and traditions of Brown County,” she said.
The group has over 300 members now, and meets monthly.
“ A lot of historical societies around the state have an annual meeting— people send in a donation and they’ re members, but they are not overly involved,” Lorenz said.“ In this one, it’ s so nice because people are active.”
Alice Lorenz became a member sometime in the 1970s, but her parents, Fred and Jane Lorenz, were charter members of the Brown County Historical Society in 1957.
The Brown County History Center is open from 1 to 4 p. m. Tuesday through Saturday, and some other times and days as volunteers are available and events warrant. An admission donation of $ 2 is accepted. •
May / June 2015 • Our Brown County 41