History center's future explored

• PHOTO: History center

The Goodhue County History Center is located at 1166 Oak St. in Red Wing.

Talk about it

Goodhue County Historical Society members have been discussing the history center's future.

That includes a possible new home — though rumors the center is definitely moving are untrue, said Char Henn, the society's director.

"So far this is just in-house dreaming," Henn said. "These are just pie in the sky things at this point. There is nothing concrete."

The historical society's board of directors and history center staff have had a handful of staff retreats to build a visioning process for the center, Henn said.

A timeline for the plan — which Henn said would outline "where we are, where we think we should go, where we think we should be" — has yet to be determined.

"We're not even through the process yet," Henn said. "We're still trying to figure out if this is a five- or 10-year plan or what kind of plan it is."

Henn said staff and board members have visited other county historical societies that have remodeled, added on or moved to gather background information.

That, she said, has been the extent of the process.

"If we were to consider a move or anything of that order we would certainly be involving staff, board members and the public," Henn said.

Roseanne Grosso, the historical society board's vice president, said the center's current building is too small and not meant to house delicate archives.

She said there has been talk of a new building but called it "a dream for the future."

"It's just not possible right now," Grosso said.

The Goodhue County Historical Society was founded in 1869 and is the oldest in Minnesota. The history center was in in the basement of the county courthouse for 37 years before moving into its current location, 1166 Oak St., in September of 1969.

Between 1989 and 1992, the building was remodeled to increase storage and exhibit space. The center is home to more than 150,000 artifacts detailing county history from its prehistory to the present.

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