Henry County Heritage Trust Holds Annual Meeting

Henry County Heritage Trust held its annual meeting and a regular monthly meeting on March 27, 2024, in the Donald Young Library, located in our Heritage Center Museum. After a review of the past year’s financial records and approval of minutes, the current board of directors was re-elected to serve an additional term: Pat Richenberger (president), Mona Gates (vice-president), Waunita Gibbons (secretary), Pat White (treasurer), and Sheila Allender, Joe Campbell, David Gates, Christian Morey, Charlene Seggerman, Ken Vandevoort and David Van Allen.

A report of HCHT’s 2023 activities was shared by Waunita Gibbons. Last year was one of the most significant years in our sixteen-year history. Shortly after the announcement of the closure of Iowa Wesleyan University on March 28, 2023, it was agreed that the school archives should remain in Mount Pleasant and HCHT was selected to be the new home for the majority of the collection. Over the next several months, with financial support from the Enhance Henry County Foundation, the William & Donna Hoaglin Foundation, many caring IW alums and the general public, the board and a dedicated team of volunteers worked efficiently to remodel a room, add climate control for proper archival storage, set up shelving and begin the process of rehousing the archives into its new home. The collection includes thousands of documents, class histories, alumni records, photographs from all eras of the school, trophies, plaques and banners from sports teams over the years, scrapbooks and Greek memorabilia.

HCHT continued our Saturday opening tour hours of 1-4, May through October. Special well-attended programs on these days included a program on the Ruel Daggs vs Elihu Frazier slave trial, one on the Orphan Train, another about the Chautauqua circuit and the history of Oakland Mills and the K-Line depot. Several school tours introduced students to our displays, while genealogical researchers studied at the museum’s library. An historic church tour and two tag sales were also held this past year.

The Van Allen House has new screen doors and refinished front and side doors, as well as a restored, vintage kitchen sink. Meetings and tours were held at the house in May, July and September.

Plans for 2024 are to install an enlarged 1895 atlas map of Henry County in the entryway of the museum and to continue our monthly history programs. Regular touring hours will begin Saturday afternoon, May 4 and continue through October. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held Friday, May 10th, to officially open the IW Archives Room to the public. In the future, the archives room will be open Mondays, 10-2. HCHT will also be taking part in the upcoming Preserve Iowa Summit (June 6-8 in Mount Pleasant).

HCHT is located at 403 West Madison in Mount Pleasant. Touring is free; donations are always appreciated. Please follow us on Facebook or check out our website: henrycountyheritagetrust.org.