Current and Future Development Efforts
Current Projects: Heritage Museum and Park Hill School
While the Society has a number of plans for the Heritage Site which include a functioning root cellar and a trappers shack, two projects are currently being completed. Both the museum and the relocated school were identified as worthy objectives in 2003, begun in 2005. The Museum was completed at the end of Sept. 2008 ; a local craftsman, Brian Curry, made a beautiful handle/lock for the main door.. All of the money needed is generated by fund raising and all of the labor required is provided by volunteers. And, more of both money and labor is needed and greatly appreciated!
The Heritage Museum
Installing the ceramic floor tile in the museum.
Imagine a small group of volunteers deciding that they wanted to build a museum! In 2003 the Society directors, with development options ranging from a large barn for storage to a full service museum and visitor center, decided to build a small museum that would focus on the area's pioneer families
. David Salmela, nationally acclaimed Finnish architect, agreed to design the museum and a fund raising effort was initiated. In 2005 it was clear that the funds needed to start the project were available, and, based on the understanding that all of the construction labor and some of the materials would be donated by local carpenters and businesses, construction began.The museum is constructed of 8x8 white pine timbers with an exposed timber truss system roof. It will contain no fewer than 5 individually lighted wall hung displays and a number of portable free standing displays. The photo above represents the work completed at the end of 2006. Volunteers will be back to work, no later than April of 2007, with a goal of completing the building by year’s end.
Volunteers installing roof trusses for Heritage Museum.
Volunteers
Volunteers preparing slab with in-floor heating for the museum. Both the museum and the school house are set on concrete slabs which were formed and laid by a large number of volunteers. Finland may be a small community (very small actually), but when a call for help with projects is issued, the results are impressive. More than a dozen workers responded to the call for help with the foundations, a number of which were concrete specialists.
The Park Hill School
The school house being moved from "downtown" Finland to the Heritage Site.
Originally located just a short walking distance from the Heritage Site, the Park Hill School functioned as a one room school house from 1917 to 1928. In 1930, the building was moved to "downtown" Finland, where it served as the Town Hall and later, the local Teen Center. In 1977, the building became "The Little Finn Shop", which sold authentic Finn and Scandinavian gifts. In 2005, the then vacant building was donated to the Historical Society by Crystal Bay Township and moved to the Heritage Site in the summer of 2006.
School’s in Session!
The first living history program was conducted during the Tori celebration in August, 2006.While there is still much work to be done before the Park Hill School offers the same ambiance students experienced 90 years ago, dozens of children and adults visited and participated in early 20th century teaching and learning during the Tori weekend in 2006. A committee has been formed to both acquire furnishings and develop plans for a living history program.
If you like what we’re doing, you can help!
Our Society depends upon the generous contributions of our members, and charitable donations of any interested party. Gifts of $50 or more are permanently recognized in the building(s) you wish to support. For information on how you can contribute to, and become a part of, this unique living history, please visit our Membership page.