Museum hosting open house for 30th anniversary

Font Size:

By Steven Martens | Friday, April 04, 2008 | No comments posted

DeWITT, Iowa — Visitors will have an opportunity Sunday to view the history of Clinton County when the Central Community Historical Society hosts an open house in celebration of its 30th anniversary.

The museum, located at 628 6th Ave. in DeWitt, will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

The museum features displays of an old-fashioned kitchen, bedroom, classroom and doctor’s office, as well as tools, photography equipment and military items dating from the Civil War to the current war in Iraq, society president Ann Soenksen said.

The museum also features an extensive genealogy area that includes school annuals, phone directories and records from most of the cemeteries in Clinton County.

The open house also will feature prairie crafts and stories from Howard and Rita Johnson of Lost Nation.

Rita Johnson said she tells stories as “The Prairie Lady.”

“Everything is true, I just borrowed a lot of stories from a lot of people,” she said.

Johnson said she also will demonstrate weaving a rug on a loom made from a wagon wheel rim, and her husband will demonstrate how he bends barbed wire into various crafts.

Soenksen said the open house is being held to introduce a new generation of Clinton County residents to the museum and encourage some new people to volunteer.

Steven Martens can be contacted at (563) 659-2595 or smartens@qctimes.com.