Dickinson County Museum - Where History LIVES!
The Dickinson County Museum, in a 140 year old depot, provides unique educational experiences based on authentic objects, stories, and lives from Dickinson County. Our purpose is to inspire people to learn from those artifacts through public programs, publications, educational activities, and special events.
Virtual Tour
If you can’t visit us in person, visit us virtually!
Virtual tour created by Drew Hutchinson of Iowa Lakeside Lab. Thank you to Mary Skopec and the Friends of the Lakeside Lab for supporting its creation. Our Exhibit Hall is looking MUCH DIFFERENT now - come in and check out the changes!
MATCHING GRANT For Exhibits CHALLENGE
You did it! Because of your generosity, we raised $7000 and qualified for the $7000 Matching Grant! This means you will be seeing some upgrades to our exhibits, and perhaps one really amazing project in the future. Stay tuned - and THANK YOU! You may still donate to this fund!
Did You Know?
EVENTS COMING SOON!
Stroll Back In Time: Spirit Lake
Thursday, July 27 at 5:00 pm
Join us at the Museum to begin an interactive stroll through historic downtown Spirit Lake. Hear the stories that bring the past to life as you learn the history of downtown buildings.
Events
WAY BACK WHEN WEDNESDAYS
Every Wednesday at 10:00 folks gather at the Museum for conversation about the way it was in Dickinson County Way Back When. The conversation is lively and fun, and many laughs are shared. All are welcome! Coffee included!
HISTORY LIVES SPEAKER SERIES
Our popular History LIVES! Speaker series features engaging speakers sharing stories, information, and photos about Dickinson County’s colorful past. In addition to experiencing the live programs, all programs are live-streamed on our FaceBook page and uploaded to our YouTube channel.
News
A Little Bit New for You
Staff and volunteers have spent lots of time over the winter sorting artifacts, rearranging displays, "spiffing" exhibits, and moving duplicate items into storage. Why? To improve your experience at the museum, of course! Our displays now feature items that enable visitors to easily enter into the stories of Dickinson County. Some of our favorites? Quilts (on a new rack built by volunteer Terry Gano) that feature signatures of early residents, a gun used by Fred Gilbert - the "Wizard of Spirit Lake"- in national trapshooting contests, military uniforms - and the stories of those who wore them, and the infamous permanent wave machine used in a Milford beauty shop.
Next up? Creating meaningful labels that focus on the stories. You see, we believe that our artifacts are beyond awesome. They really are. Yet the real super power of our awesome artifacts is that they are portals into the stories of those who came before us. And those stories are worth knowing, for sure.
Trivia? Of course!
Thanks to two awesome Okoboji No Boundaries students, the Museum is now offering Trivia Challenges! Maggie and Jazmyn figured out a way to load scintillating questions into game software that creates a fun, fun, fun experience for everyone! The questions are all about Dickinson County history, and most include helpful photos. Teams work together to answer the questions within a time limit, and team scores are posted frequently.
To make the experience even better, our own local historian and author, Jonathan Reed, provides commentary and more information about the questions.
Be watching for our Trivia Challenges - both at the Museum and offsite! If your organization needs a fun interactive program, let us know - we'd love to share the fun with you!
Get Involved
Join the growing community of Dickinson County Museum supporters!
