New museum pursued by historic society

A year-round learning space may be in Creston’s future at the Union County Historical Village as volunteers work to raise money to construct a two-story, 9,000-square-feet building.

Union County Historical Society board members Dick Anderson and Steve Francis presented plans for the new museum to Creston City Council Tuesday evening, sharing why the building was necessary, including blueprints and various funding sources for the project.

“I’ve been with the society for something like 20 years and during that period of time we continue to get Union County historical artifacts in to the point that we are now out of room and we have come to the point that we think we need a new building,” Anderson said.

“The primary use would be exhibits,” Francis added. “The museum building we have now, the heating and cooling system just dumps air into there. There’s no duct work. We run fans and dehumidifiers year-round in there to keep mildew off clothing and books. We’d really like to get our clothing, military uniforms and historical documents into a better climate controlled environment. And then this opens up more display space in the other buildings.”

Along with more exhibit space, the proposed museum would include a library and youth multipurpose interactive area. Along with the youth education space, Creston Middle School students will be working with the village to create videos about individuals and artifacts in the museum.

“They’re going to interview them and the classrooms will edit this,” Francis said. “It’s a win for us and a win for them, teaching them something and helping us too. And then those video tapes will have a QR code assigned to them and be by the artifacts.”

Francis said that with the new building, along with the three months during the summer the village is open, they would be able to hold events and programs the rest of the year in the museum.

The budget for the project is $850,000, with the board having $450,000 in hand already. Though in the process of applying for two large grants, Francis said funding organizations are asking about local city and county involvement. The hope is to begin construction in spring 2027.

“We had asked for a couple hundred thousand from [Dekko] and they didn’t say no, but they said they would be more inclined to do a matching grant if we could get support from our city and county and other donors,” Francis said.

They said Brian Zachary is also working on a $250,000 Community Attraction and Tourism Grant for the project.

The pair said they were hoping to get money from the Hotel/Motel Fund and were happy with a smaller commitment over a number years, simply looking to show the grant foundations the group had local support. However, applications for Hotel/Motel Funds are only open once a year and all funds for the next fiscal year have already been allocated.

No action was taken by the council. The society plans to talk with county officials soon on the topic.

In other council news...

A public hearing on the proposed FY27 budget is set for Tuesday, April 21 at 6 p.m.

Creston has become the fourth city to join the Hometown Pride program, committing to a $500 per year contribution. A minimum of six cities are required to participate in order to apply for the program. Project organizers are working with Lorimor, Shannon City and Arispe to get the final agreements this month.

The council agreed to fill the Ward 3 council vacancy, previously filled by Jen Worisek by appointment on Tuesday, May 5. The term will expire Dec. 31, 2027. Those interested in becoming the Ward 3 city councilmember must apply by Tuesday, April 28 at 2 p.m.

In order to qualify for application, a person must be an eligible voter and live within Ward 3. To apply, one should submit a letter of interest to the city clerk via mail or email at bleach@crestoniowa.org expressing their desire to be appointed and why they feel they would be a good city council representative.

If there are no applications by the deadline, an election will be held. A special election can also be forced if enough eligible voters file a petition.