By Charlie Mahler
As Northfield prepares to commemorate the 150th anniversary of its defeat of the James-Younger Gang, the Northfield History Center is kicking off a $3.5-million capital campaign to restore the Scriver Building, the former bank the outlaws attempted to rob in 1876 and the society’s current home.
The “Save the Scriver Building Campaign” seeks funds to repair the building’s exterior, restore its façade to its 1876 appearance, improve and develop upstairs apartment space, and make “environmental, health, and safety upgrades” to the structure.
“The campaign has a number of facets,” History Center Board Chair Aaron Street told KYMN’s Rich Larson recently. “We’ve recruited a blue-ribbon committee of community leaders to serve as the campaign committee. Hoping they will help us with outreach throughout the community and across the country with supporters of this particular museum that has a national reach.”
The Historical Society will also finance part of the project through federal historic resource tax credits procured via the State Historic Preservation Office. Restoration stipulations are attached to the financing.
“You have to have an era of significance that you pick for the building,” History Center Executive Director Sean Allen explained. “We’re picking 1876, obviously, which is 150 years ago that the raid occurred. And then the interior, we don’t really know what it was like in 1876, the most recent remodel we can tell happened was in the 1930s. So, the interior is going to be to that 1930s. In order to do that, a lot of the stuff that’s there … all that has to stay. They’re very strict about that.”
Thanks to grants from funders like the state Department of Employment and Economic Development and the state Historical Society Legacy Fund the campaign has already raised roughly $2-million.
“Even there, we have matching grants and other opportunities in place so that the more the community participates, the faster we will get closer to that goal,” Street noted.
The Historical Society will host an open house at the History Center on Monday, April 20, to show the design and construction plans for the restoration, including “hard hat” tours of upstairs construction which will have already begun. On Monday, June 22, the Historical Society will host its 50th birthday party along with a campaign fundraising event at Loon Liquors.
Additional information about the campaign, including opportunities to make tax deductible donations, can be found on the Northfield Historical Society webpage.
Charlie Mahler is a regular contributor to KYMN News. Contact him at news@kymnradio.net
