Carnegie museum becomes popular stop thanks to new exhibits

FAIRFIELD — New exhibits at the Carnegie Historical Museum in Fairfield have garnered immense public interest and great attendance at the museum.

That was the take-home message from Dave Neff’s remarks to the Fairfield City Council Monday night. Neff, a member of the museum’s board, appeared before the council to give the museum’s quarterly report. Neff said that for six months, the museum had more than 200 people visit, including 291 in September, and 2,150 so far this year.

“People are saying, ‘I want to be there. I want to get a chance to see it,’” he said. “The enthusiasm has carried over into class reunions. Thirteen class reunions came to the museum this year.”

Neff told the city council about how the museum is in the second year of its Christmas tree fundraiser, where residents can purchase a tree on the museum’s lawn and dedicate it to a loved one or someone they’d like to honor. Neff said the museum put up 25 trees last year, and 24 were purchased, which generated $5,000 in revenue. This year, participation has not been quite as good as only 14 of the 25 displayed trees have been purchased.

The museum has opened a number of new displays in the past two years, and it’s planning another new one next year to showcase its artifacts from the Smithsonian. Neff said this will be a “new display of old friends,” since these were items that James F. Wilson secured from the Smithsonian in the 1890s.

In October, Iowa Public Television visited the museum to learn about Fairfield’s history, specifically the fact that it hosted the first Iowa State Fair in 1854.

“They stayed the whole afternoon and promised to come back because once they saw what we had, they said, ‘One day is not enough for us,’” Neff said.

Mike Carlson spoke with IPTV about the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the first state fair in 1954, when a “centennial caravan” traveled by horse from Fairfield to Des Moines, and included 509 people, 471 horses and 40 covered wagons.

Neff concluded his remarks by saying that Andrew Carnegie “would be proud of where we’re going,” since he was responsible for the 1,400 Carnegie libraries across the country, with Fairfield as the first one built outside Pennsylvania.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com