Slow Steady Progress

The Fremont County Rodeo/Museum Project is proving that all good things take time. Fremont County Historical Society has been planning to remodel its facility since 2003, the addition of the Rodeo Museum to the project occurred in 2006. From the fall of 2006 to the spring of 2011, if something good could happen to slow progress, it did. First it was getting a plan approved by the state since state money is helping to build it. Then it was the weather. An example of the weather delays, November 25, 2010 in-floor radiant tubes were installed and we were ready to pour the floor of the Rodeo Museum. Cold weather set in, and then the insulation needed in a radiant heat floor slowed the frost leaving the ground. We waited until April 1, 2011 for the floor to be poured. But that is all behind us.

Status of the Project May 2011.

Rodeo Museum- Pictured above, all the remaining work has moved inside. An important part of the construction has been going “green” as much as possible. The in-floor radiant heat installation slowed us down but it will save thousands of dollars in future heating and cooling costs. Will Thomson, the museum designer, is starting exhibit construction.

Storage Building- Just north of the Rodeo Museum, a 35X 40 foot acclimatized building is being added to the complex. This building will be two stories high and have a cleaning room. For the first time in the 40 plus years of the Society, all the collection, when the items are not on display, will be stored in year round temperature controlled facility. So many families have donated items that are not only valuable but vital to telling the stories of the County; we must store them correctly for future generations.

Historical Museum- The Rodeo Museum has captured the headlines but work is progressing on the main museum. It has a new roof and the north east corner stabilized. The foyer is remodeled. We are currently selling old books from our collections that do not fit our mission. Many are rare and very valuable. We are selling the new “Images of America Fremont County” book. Monies from these sales will buy shelves and computer programs for the research and genealogy program.

As soon as the storage building is done, the museum will be emptied of the collection and the final work including exhibit construction by Will Thomson will go forward.

Please consider helping us! Here’s what we need!

Donations to the Rodeo Collection - We have thousands of items to tell the history of the county but are limited in our Rodeo memorabilia. We can now accept donations to the collection on anything to do with the Rodeo. Additionally, an important part of the Rodeo exhibits will be video. We want to bring the excitement of the Rodeo to museum visitors. If you have any video of any kind showing action at the Rodeo, we would like to borrow it and have it digitized for the exhibits. We are also accepting action pictures to copy. If you have something to donate, you can bring it to the Gathering Place, Sunday afternoon June 5, 1-4 p.m. or call the numbers below so we can arrange to accept the donation.

Funds to Finish - The $650,000 project is 87% funded. Any donation to help us complete fund raising is welcomed. You can give us a cash donation or use a credit card. We have contributors that have pledged a contribution for up to five years; we ask that pledged donations be at least $150 a year.

To answer any questions call: Rosie Hall 712-374-2590; Edna Eaton 713-374-2641; or Lona Lewis 712-374-6098

Click here for donation sheet

The Loess Hills run down the western border of this part of Iowa, a geological phenomenon
found only here and in China. The Loess Hill were thrown up from dust and sand created by
centuries of glaciation that pushed across Iowa during the Ice Age. Then, huge megafauna like Wooly Mammoths, Giant Sloths and Woodland Bison roamed. Later, humans arrived to seek food and build shelters, and found, ultimately, settled communities.

On July 19, 1804, two to three miles upstream and opposite Nebraska City NE. William Clark
wrote in his journal:

“breakfast which was on a rosted Ribs of a Deer a little Coffee I walked on Shore intending only to Keep up with the Boat, Soon after I got on shore, Saw some fresh elk Sign, which I was induced to prosue those animals by their track to the hills. after assending and passing thro a narrow strip of wood Land, Came Suddenly in to open and bound less Prairie, I Say bound less because I could not see the extent of the plain in any Derection, the timber appeared to be confined to the River Creeks & Small branches, this Prairie was Covered with grass about 18 Inches or 2 feat high and contained little of anything else, except as before on the River Creeks & branches. This prospect was So Sudden & entertaining that I forgot the object of my prosute and turned my attention to the Variety which presented themselves to my view Renewed our voyage and passed a number of sand bars, Halted for dinner where we found a great quantity of cherries, called by some choak-cherries.”

And so, what would become Fremont County only 45 years later was first laid open before
an American explorer. Home to Iowa, Pawnee, Oto, and Omaha, at various times. It was not
long before French trappers, white and Indian settlers and government surveyors would cross, re-cross and take up residence on this land. The Pottawatomie settled here, moved from the western shores of Lake Huron; their hereditary chief Waubonsie spent the last of his life here. By 1900, Fremont’s population was over 16,000 and a rich history had shaped its citizens; a border dispute over a survey error, called the Honey War, had ultimately wrested control of a good bit of its territory from Missouri, and tensions over Abolition had made Fremont a logistical center for John Brown’s crusade in Kansas and Missouri. In the parlance of today, Fremont had served as a guerrilla stronghold in the story of “Bloody Kansas”. Mormon settlers passed through in 1846, contributing to the local culture and history, though most of them moved on to their “shining city” of Salt Lake. When Civil War came, The Southern Border Brigade patrolled the border with Missouri to guard against confederate attack. Yet, were there Southern sympathizers in Fremont?

An attempt was made during the war to blow up the Courthouse in Sidney, and while he never came out and said it, Iowa Governor Kirkwood believed the county to have elements of Southern sympathies. So it continued; outlaws and brigands occasionally appearing from hinterlands to the south and west, progress in technology and transport arriving from the east, settled villages becoming comfortable little farming towns, and always, the people.

This county’s history is the story-line, one unique among Iowa Counties. The telling of this story is key to the visitor’s understanding that they are indeed in a special place. At the same time, it is important to help them relax by providing a pace that varies a little, letting an ebb and flow of tone help keep the experience fresh. The story of Fremont County has aspects of great historical moment: Lewis and Clark, the Abolitionist’s Struggle, Statehood and Civil War, and so on. It has pathos and drama, but it also has humor- the story of Polk Wells the Outlaw seems ridiculous in overstatements and exaggeration, but at the same time is very revealing to us about the period.

Telling the stories of individuals and their lives, whether pithy, historic, courageous or silly is
what makes history so interesting, and it is history’s humanity revealed that connects it to the living as real.

Excerpt from:
A Master Plan and Exhibit Design For The Fremont County Historical Society Museum, Armadillo Arts

Rare and Old Book Sale

Current Exhibits

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