Historical society fundraising to repair buildings

Trevor Hubert, The Lima News, Ohio
·2 min read

Jun. 13—WAPAKONETA — The Auglaize County Historical Society (ACHS) is looking to raise funds to repair several of its historic buildings. After earning a grant from the National Museum Assessment Program in 2020, which works to conserve small and medium-sized museum collections around the country, sites around the county were evaluated by experts and a list of repairs was collected.

"We launched this capital campaign to help us take better care of our buildings," ACHS administrator Rachel Barber said. "We have four sites with buildings on them, so that forms a large part of our efforts as a board and as an organization to take care of these buildings."

While still in the early stages of fundraising, the ACHS has already received $14,400 in pledges and donations needed to reach its $75,000 goal.

ACHS owns several historical sites within the county, including the Wapakoneta Museum, the Daniel Mooney Museum in St. Marys, and the Olive Branch Methodist Church in New Knoxville. The focus of the repairs, however, is on the 1850 Gary Log House at the Auglaize County Fairgrounds, which accounts for $43,000 of the needed repairs. Barber cites that many of the repairs needed for the house come from a failure to properly repair it when it was moved to the fairgrounds more than 40 years ago.

"They put it on some concrete blocks, rather than pouring some concrete so that it was more stable," she said. "They're no longer providing a stable floor."

Despite a long road ahead for the Gary Log House and the other historical buildings in Auglaize County, Barber is encouraged by the early community support she has seen, noting that more avenues for collecting funds for the project will be coming soon, including an online platform that will make it easier for people to donate.

The story of Auglaize County is far from finished, but the ACHS takes the role of preserving the history that has already been made there very seriously.

"We're just trying to step up and do our part with what we know now and make sure that the Gary Log House, [The Wapak Museum], and all of the buildings of the historical society have many viable years left in them," Barber said. "We want to set a good example about how you treat your historic buildings because they tell us so much about our community's history."