Jake Judd (KNSI News)
(KNSI) – The Stearns History Museum is getting ready to open its newly renovated main gallery next month with an exhibition on World War II.
The Museum will allow people to experience life in the 1940s as the world’s fate was being decided on the battlefields of Europe, Africa, Asia, and on the homefront starting Saturday, June 19.
Stearns History Museum Exhibits and Collections Curator Eric Cheever talked about how a new exhibit comes together.
“Much of this comes from our collection that has been donated by people previously. When people do donate things, we try to get as much history on the object as possible. For instance, we have a uniform, we know who wore it, we know what she did. We know the history of that piece.”
Stearns History Museum Excited to Show Remodeled Exhibit Space
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The museum have spent the last few months remodeling their two-level gallery into a more modern and interactive space.
The upstairs mezzanine has been removed, and some fresh paint and carpeting has been added.
Exhibits & Collections Curator
Eric Cheever says with the remodel done, staff can start showcasing their creativity in their new exhibit space.
The pieces are coming together, we are starting to see a product we are happy with, and we re excited for the public to come and see what we ve done.
Cheever says their first exhibit in the new space, Rising to the Crisis: Stearns County and WWII, will feature many never before seen artifacts.
Courtesy of the Stearns History Museum
(KNSI) – Stearns County laid the foundation for the historic courthouse 100 years ago.
Construction started on the courthouse in St. Cloud in 1921, and the building was completed in 1922.
According to the Stearns History Museum, the county needed a new government center because they outgrew the original courthouse built-in 1865. Starting in the 1910s and 1920s, the county’s population grow by more than 15,000.
Courtesy of the Stearns History Museum
Charles Skooglun, out of St. Paul, was hired to build the courthouse. Architects Toltz, King, and Day of St. Paul designed the building in the Beaux-Arts style.
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Sources tell KNSI that 84-year-old Al Kirmeier died Sunday at St. Cloud Hospital.
According to the Stearns History Museum, Al and his wife Pat opened the Persian Supper Club on December 31st, 1961, on the Kirmeier family land. Al and brother Roger cleared trees, dug a 40 foot well, and poured the foundation themselves.
Al named it The Persian after falling in love with a bar and restaurant of the same name in Long Beach, California, where he operated a marina in the 1950s.
It was widely known for its spacious dining room, with the capacity to seat a thousand people, unique food choices for the time, and friendly staff. In an article by the Stearns History Museum and published by the St. Cloud Times, The Persian was one of the first places in town to get a lobster dinner and the only place one could get a rib dinner on Wednesday nights for $2.25. Al and Pat would personally greet diners at the door by name, dressed to the nines, quickly making it one of the most popular p