What began as the Farmer’s State Bank on main street in Arnold in 1914, is now the future home of the area’s historical museum. According to Holly Hornung Remund, a committee member of the Arnold Area Historical Society (AAHS), the group was recently fortunate enough to acquire that unique location where they will house and preserve their community’s history. Remund told KCNI/KBBN News that they “…were able to find a location that needs our tender, loving care and we are getting so much support from the community because the building that we found is such an integral part of our community and we termed it our cornerstone…”
Today, we’ll wrap up our feature story about the Arnold Area Historical Society by focusing on the brick and mortar facility envisioned by that group. Because of several grants the historical society received this year, they were able to acquire the building known to locals as “Archie’s Café”. In 1948, Arnold resident Archie Geiser purchased the former bank building and then operated a café at that location, closing the business in 1982. Unfortunately, the building has sat vacant for the past 40+ years and is in dire need of renovation and restoration, a task that is now a major focus for the AAHS.
Retaining the glory of the building is important to the historical society committee and they hope to restore it as closely to its original form as possible. Several committee members recently met with a structural engineer to determine that work on the building can proceed in a safe and healthy manner. Once they receive the finalized report from the engineer, the group will put together a plan of action and secure contractor bids. However, in order to achieve that ambitious goal, obtaining funding is their biggest and most pressing task at hand.
Thankfully, because of private donations, several grants, and the generosity of the Arnold community, the “Cornerstone Campaign” fundraising efforts for the project are well underway. According to Remund, as well as Renee Bubak, President of the AAHS, the Arnold Community Foundation Fund has also been very instrumental in getting the historical society to where they are now. In the recent interview with KCNI/KBBN News, Bubak stressed how blessed they are that all their community entities work so well together and how vital that cooperation is in getting projects like the “Cornerstone Campaign” moving from dreams to realities.
It will be exciting to follow the developments of the Arnold Area Historical Society in their efforts to create both a virtual museum as well as a brick and mortar museum. For more information or to contribute to the group’s fundraising efforts, please contact Renee Bubak at [email protected].
