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The History Center of Freeborn County made history in its own right Wednesday after three live grenades were discovered in the museum and removed with the help of authorities.

Stephanie Kibler, executive director of the History Center, said she and curator Risha Lilienthal had been talking Wednesday morning about different things in their collections, when Lilienthal remarked that she had a grenade on her desk and she didn’t know if it was active.

The women contacted Sgt. Jason Taylor with the Albert Lea Police Department, who has served on the History Center’s board, and he called the duty officer. They ultimately decided to call the St. Paul Bomb Squad.

Kibler said they checked their system at the museum for other grenades logged into their collection, and the bomb squad ultimately reviewed and then removed a total of three live grenades that had been at the museum since the 1960s.

“Jason and the other officer didn’t even want to touch them for fear it would do something,” she said. “The bomb squad guys, when they first came, they didn’t pick them up until they got an explosion wrap. They were slow and cautious.”

The grenades were ultimately packaged in the wrap and walked out by the bomb squad members, as carefully as if they were walking out with two dozen eggs, she said.

She noted the grenades weren’t directly tied to Freeborn County history — two were German and one was from World War I. The History Center still has several other grenades still in the collection that were not live and will remain on site.

The museum closed to the public, and they called volunteers and asked them not to come in until the issue was resolved.

“It was a crazy day,” she said.

“It’s very interesting the things you find and you’re not quite sure what to do with,” she said. “Now if somebody came in with those, we’d instantly call Albert Lea police.”

The museum will be open normal hours on Thursday.