History of the Grinnell Historical Museum
On July 30, 1958 the Grinnell Historical Museum Society was formally incorporated in the State of Iowa as a not-for-profit organization to promote the study of the history of the State of Iowa and, particularly, the City of Grinnell and Poweshiek County, to gather objects of historical interest and importance and to preserve them for cultural and educational purposes for present and future generations.
The museum was, from the beginning, a collaborative effort. In 1950, the Grinnell Herald Register sponsored a contest for community development. Four women's groups––two chapters of the DAR, the Historical and Literary Club, and the Tuesday Club, took as their project the creation of a museum. People responded enthusiastically; donations included a rope bed, a hair wreath, and the twisted bell clapper from the ruins of the first High School, which had burned.
Mr. Don Cunningham generously offered the rooms over Candyland at 827 Fourth Avenue, rent free, to house the donated objects. Unhappily, in 1954, a fire destroyed the building and most of its contents.
Following the fire, Ms. Rubie Burton donated her grandfather's house to the Grinnell Historical Museum Society. While the structure was too small, its sale generated enough money to purchase a larger building. An anonymous donor bestowed a generous gift on the Grinnell Historical Museum Society in 1958. In 1965, the late-Victorian 10-room residence known as the McMurray house at 1125 Broad Street was acquired to become the Grinnell Historical Museum.
Mr. J. H. McMurray was a local merchant of white goods and ready-to-wear women's and children's clothing. He had the house built in 1895-96 at a cost of $8,000––ten times the cost of other houses built in the same year. At that time, Grinnell offered city water and electricity; the house also had central heating. The McMurrays had no children. When they died, they left the house to their housekeeper, Kate Siehl. She lived in it until her death, when the Grinnell Historical Museum Society bought it from her estate for $9,500. The house only had three owners, and no children have lived there.
The house was empty except for the carpets in the four downstairs rooms and the carpeting on the steps to the second floor. These carpets were brought from Persia by Mr. McMurray. Thousands of items––among them an organ, a Duncan Phyfe sofa, J.B. Grinnell's Wooten desk from 1877, and the desk from the Monroe Hotel––have been lovingly and thoughtfully arranged throughout the house by Museum volunteers. Thus it has been possible to recreate an authentic atmosphere of Victorian family living.
Displays are of interest to visitors of all ages. The kitchen holds an electric refrigerator made by the Grinnell Washing Machine Company, one of the first 50 made in 1932. There is a Military exhibit with uniforms from the Civil War to the Vietnam war. The Carriage House holds several horse-drawn vehicles built by the Spaulding Carriage Factory in Grinnell.
Among the women who were instrumental to the Museum's success were Rose Stoops, one of the original incorporating members of the Grinnell Historical Museum Society, Lois Meacham, and Betty Ernst; these women have spent uncountable hours on the ongoing project that is the Grinnell Historical Museum.
As was fashionable in the mid-20th Century, the exterior of the building had been painted in an ivory shade with green trim. However, in 2006 the original monochromatic color scheme of the house was restored: shades of lighter and darker green, with black trim.