From the Historic Ely Elevator Facebook page

Perhaps you’ve noticed the new addition to our yard! You may or may not also recognize this railroad baggage cart, which until recently was displayed in front of City Hall. The cart was in desperate need of repair, so local master-of-all-trades Orville Meskimen restored it, and beautifully so. 

 

 The city wanted to display the cart closer to the old railroad, the Historic Ely Elevator is happy to give it a new home! (and will do our best to protect it from the elements)

 

This was Orville’s second restoration of this important historic artifact. The details of its rescue can be found in the Ely Community History Society blog: https://www.elyhistory.com/2019/12/the-baggage-cart.html

Cedar Rapids Horsemen's Club

We have received a large collection of documents and photos concerning the Cedar Rapids Horsemen's Club, which was located in the town of Western for many years. We will be indexing this collection over the next few months.

Click the photos to enlarge them.

The Horsemen's Club in Western (now torn down)

                                             Interior of the club

 

Members celebrating the club's 79th birthday
On the far right is Jim Miller from Ely.
Identities would be appreciated!

 

 

Ely School Kids 1930s

 Click the photo to enlarge it

                                         Ely school kids outside the building in the 1930s

The girl on the right with her legs crossed is Edna Sladek, who graduated in 1933.

We would appreciate if people can identify others (in comments below) or email HistoricEly@yahoo.com.

Ely School Kids

      Below is a photo of children and teachers standing in front of the Ely School House. We estimate the year to be about 1935. It would be great if we could get some identities for the kids!
     Click this link for a close-up of the  people in this photo. https://photos.app.goo.gl/iNeJHLFDKBxr4KMa8

Janine Norman
Fourth row, 3rd from left is Evelyn Elias Stastnyl. 2nd girl next to her is Doris Krob Buresh.(I think)
Third row from the right 5th girl is Rachel Trular Garnant.
Top row from the right is Chuck Varva & third guy is Gilbert Hynek!

Mary Vavra Haster
In the upper right area, do I see Vernon Erenberger and Inez Hartley?

Mark Krob
Bob Krob -3rd row, 4th from right.
Norb Krob - 3rd row, 3rd from left.

Pat McNamara
I think I see three Sladek girls.
Helen Sladek Walshire Second row from top third from right.
Maxine third row from top fifth from left.
Mildred Sladek Staley is third row from bottom and sixth from left.

Thanks to Darren Ferreter for colorizing this photo!

Updates

COMPUTER
We have a newer computer in the archives. We were formerly using a WindowsXP computer, but now have a Windows10! Thanks to Ed Vavra for helping Barb to set it up!

 It took a while to get it up and running with all the software we needed, but all is a go now. We wanted to make sure our Museum Software would transfer successfully since we have 14 Years worth of information on it! We breathed a sigh of relief when it transferred successfully.

UPDATED COLLECTION LISTING
If you look in the right column you will see that we have also updated the on-line listings of of our Collections, Photos, and Objects. Click on one of them and a .pdf will come up. You can use the "Find" feature to search.

We know that people do use this feature, because they come into the Archives Room with lists of things they want to see, using the archive number (ex. A 2004.001.008 - Lutheran Church history).

A NEW COLLECTION
We received a large collection (not yet fully archived) from a descendant of J.C. Dvorak, Ely's "barefoot mayor". It is full of interesting things, including a bowler hat he owned!

That's all for now!