Preserving the Past by Kim Nelson

Kim Nelson is the executive director of the Freeborn County Historical Museum, Library and Village, 1031 Bridge Ave.

Have you ever thought about how you could help preserve the past for future generations?

The Freeborn County Museum, Library and Village has an Adopt a Building program. We are currently looking for organizations, families, businesses and individuals to adopt village buildings here at the museum. We still have 10 of the 18 buildings that need to be adopted.

Those buildings are the red barn, telephone office, carpenter shop, parsonage, mill, shoe store, jail, photography studio, bank, and barber. Most of the buildings left are perfect for a family or individuals to adopt. The red barn would be ideal for a large business or organization to take on.

Some of the adoption duties include; attending village cleanup from 8 a.m. to noon April 8 and maintaining the building through the months of May, June, July, August and September. Other duties include cleaning, light maintenance, organizing and yard work. We would absolutely love to have you, your family, an organization you are in or where you work consider adopting a building. The Village is visited by over 7,000 people each year. Please consider adopting one of the buildings. If adoption is not an option, think about donating to the restoration of our village. It takes additional funding to keep the village operating and any donation you can make would be appreciated.

One of my favorite parts of the village is the general store. Every time I enter the store it seems to come alive and takes me back to the stories my grandfather would tell me about making a trip into town. He would share with us that it was a family outing. My father would add that it was very special when he got to go with. These buildings help us tell the stories of times unfamiliar to many generations. I have the privilege to look out my office window and see these awesome buildings each day!

Please contact the museum to receive more information on how you can help by calling 507-373-8003, emailing fchm8003@gmail.com or come visit the museum from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Watch for my weekly Facebook live video, too.

Also, you can hear me on KATE and The Breeze radio shows Sunday morning for updates from the museum.