History of the Aitkin County Historical Society
by Greg Leach
The Aitkin County Historical Society was organized in 1948 with the mission to "collect, preserve and disseminate the historical information and artifacts pertinent to Aitkin County history. The ACHS is a 501(c)(3) organization.
On October 12, 1949, the cornerstone was laid on the SE corner of the Aitkin County Courthouse yard for a 24' x 26' log building. The logs were furnished by Cecil Weingarner and built by Arndt Midthun, contactor. On July 1, 1951, meetings of the Society began in the building and artifacts were accumulated.
Negotiations were started in 1970 for the acquisition of the Burlington Northern Depot for use as a historical museum. The Historical Society obtained possession of the building on October 19th, 1973, and renovated it for the exhibits. On Thursday, September 4, 1980, Governor Al Quie came to Aitkin to dedicate the Historical Depot Museum. The Depot was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in December, 1981.
In 1975, the Depot Museum opened from June 15th to September 30th. 563 guests registered during that time. The guests came from 15 states, including 50 communities within Minnesota, Canada, and Ireland.
A 24' x 24' addition was added to the Log Building in 1980. In May of 2000, the Society was notified that their log building had to be moved off of the Armory property by August 17, 2000. The log cabin was moved in August temporarily to land west of the Depot Museum, and then in October the Society was given permission to move the Log Cabin to its current location in the SE corner of the County Fairgrounds.
A second display building was built west of the Depot to house the displays from the Log Building. Currently, the Society has three buildings for displays. Two buildings are for year-round displays and the third building is for special displays at the Fair. We offer 20 unique displays, showcasing artifcats from our archives, which are maintained at our museum complex. Selected displays are changed periodically to enhance return visits.
As more and more artifacts were received, the Society ran out of room and looked for a fourth building for storage of artifacts. The Society purchased the Northern Bell substation building located on 1st Street NW. Then they made a 24' x 30' addition to that building for more storage. The two display buildings and the storage building are all temperature and humidity controlled to preserve the artifacts.