From The Beginning
From the very beginning of the Pratt County Historical Society, it was their dream to have a historical museum.
In the spring of 1968, the organization known as the Coterie, donated the building that had housed the first library in Pratt County back in the 1880’s. The ladies of the Coterie had bought the building and had it moved to the 100 block of south Main, on the east side. (The museum has photos of it being there.) Years later, the building was sold to the Episcopal Church and moved to the 200 block of north Main, where it served as the church until 1968. At that time, the Coterie ladies bought it back and donated it to the Historical Society, since it was one of the first buildings in Pratt. It was then moved to east Third street between the Boy Scout cabin and the American Legion.
It was in this spot that the idea came about to build a museum with an old time pioneer town on the grounds. Architects were hired to plan out the modern museum complex. It was to be quite the undertaking, of which never got off the ground, as enough funding could not be raised.
After that, the school board offered the old North School to the society for a museum. But, for a variety of reasons—one being financial and the other being too many stairs—the offer was declined.
The Society formed a committee in the spring of 1972, to seek out possible buildings on Main Street. By the fall, they had narrowed it down to four buildings. Two on South Main and two on North Main. A contract was signed with Jim Temaat to purchase his building at 112 N. Main in January of the next year. Many people will remember it as the “Peter Pan” ice cream shop. It had good exposure to traffic, being close to the intersection of highways 54 and 281.
Work did not begin on the building until July of 1975, during which time the Society was raising funds and making plans. They opened the museum in the spring of 1976. But, it didn’t take long for the museum to outgrow the building.
At the end of 1978, the Society received a huge surprise. Blanche Fincham Taylor, who had died in October of that year, had bequeathed in her will, half interest in four quarters of prime Pratt County farmland south of Pratt, with instruction that proceeds from the sale of the land be used to acquire a new building for the museum, in the memory of her parents Edward and Emma Fincham. The other half of the proceeds were to go to the United Methodist Home for the Aged in Topeka.
The land was auctioned off in April of 1980. The Society immediately began to look for places to build a new, larger museum. Places such as the Rose Garden (now called Centennial Park) were suggested. After much research, it was decided to change directions and look at buildings that were already there, and could be renovated.
One day, in the Spring of 1981, one of the board members announced “It’s been right under our noses the whole time! The Independent Lumber building!” Three months later, the Society bought it. Now the question was how do you turn an old lumber yard into a museum? It was nearly ten times the space they had on North Main.
Quenten Hannawald, president of the society and retired contractor stated at the beginning of the project, “I think that Pratt County can have the nicest and largest county historical museum in the state.” Thus begun one of the largest scavenger hunts Pratt County has ever seen. They collected wood, doors and windows from abandoned houses all over the county, with the owners permission, of course. The idea was to build an authentic looking 1890’s Main Street in one of the alleys where the lumber used to be stored. The Society had a goal in mind for the Grand Opening— Pratt’s Centennial celebration in 1984. For the next three years, it was non-stop work for all the people who were volunteering their time to build the museum.
Even though it wasn’t nearly finished, the Opening Day ceremony of Pratt’s Centennial was held in the museum on January 22, 1984.
For the next thirty years, it has continued to grow into exactly what Quenten Hannawald had predicted back in 1981—one of the best, if not THE best, county historical museums in the state of Kansas!
Oh, and the old Coterie building? It was cut apart and the boards used to make other buildings in the museum. But, the front of the building was saved, and used to make the Coterie become a part of the museum.
So, the old adage of “Third time’s the charm” is right. And, a lesson was to be learned throughout the whole building a museum process. Think small. Don’t start out big. Stay within your budget. When the money comes your way, THEN you can think big and grow. If it was meant to happen, it will.