In the last six months the Murray County Museums have received three grants from the Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Fund administered through the Minnesota Historical Society. These grants are made possible by the Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through a 2008 vote of the people. The grants are awarded to projects of enduring value for the cause of history and historic preservation across the state.
The grants the museums received will help assess the condition of the End O line Railroad Turntable, create a scope of work for the repair of the Dinehart Holt House (both on the National Register of Historic Places) and pay for a small museum management lending library which will be available to other museums and county citizens.
In 2018 the Murray County Museum received a large grant to prepare a Historic Structure Report on the Dinehart Holt House. Once that was completed the second step was to apply for a grant to prepare the scope of work forms and create architectural drawings for the repair projects and the staff is working with Mike Lovato, from LHB, Inc., an architectural firm with offices in Rochester, Minneapolis, and Duluth. Once his work is completed, the museum will apply for a third construction grant that will help pay for repairs such as new windows, tuck pointing and repair of the foundation and central chimney, and a new outside entry door and stairs to the basement.
Museums Coordinator, Janet Timmerman, asks the public for their patience in this process, “I know the outside of the building desperately needs of a coat of paint, but we don’t want to do that before new windows, sills, and repair of the siding has happened. It will all come together in due time. The house is a precious structure and we want it done correctly, not quickly.”
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