Henry County Heritage Trust holds monthly meeting May 22

Henry County Heritage Trust (HCHT) held its monthly meeting on May 22, 2024, at the museum in Mount Pleasant, with nearly all board members in attendance.

After the approval of minutes and finance reports, a recap of the May 10, opening of the Iowa Wesleyan Archives Room was discussed. The Mount Pleasant Area Chamber of Commerce held a well-attended ribbon cutting ceremony and a steady stream of visitors toured. The IW Archives is open to the public for tours and research on Mondays, 10:00 to 2:00, through June.

Gina Dexter's Eighth Grade Language Arts Class made their annual visit to research in the museum’s Donald Young Library. Project topics this year: Mental Health Institute, Civil War, Lee Town and the ever-popular subject, murders of Mount Pleasant.

Recent donations include dozens of items from the David L. McCoid Estate, including a history of the Henry County Bar Association. Sally Babinat, descendant of Henry Clay Dean, sent her book “Letters of a Lifetime,” genealogy of the Dean family.

Special open hours for touring the Van Allen House and the IW Archives Room are being widely advertised. Thursday, June 6, 10:00-Noon is the date and time for this opportunity.

David Van Allen will present a program on 19th Century photography, June 29. Presentations about area Heritage Farms and Henry County Native American artifacts are being planned. A tag sale and book sale will be held later in the summer.

The meeting adjourned for members to help install the vintage farmhouse sink in the kitchen of the Van Allen House. The sink stand was made by inmates at the Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility.

The next scheduled HCHT board meeting will be Wednesday, June 26, 10 a.m. at the Henry County Heritage Center Museum, 403 West Madison Street. The public is invited.