Stearns History Museum Excited to Show Remodeled Exhibit Space

ST. CLOUD -- There's a fresh new look inside the Stearns History Museum.

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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.

Very few, if any, of these artifacts have been seen before. So that's fun for us to dig out new pieces, and a lot of these pieces have been gathered from other sources, so they are together for the first time.

Cheever says they plan to open that exhibit next month.

He says next week they plan to open some of their older exhibits like natural history, toys and granite, which museum goers will see from a different view point.

We wanted to shake it up and make it new. That exhibit has been one of the focal points of the museum since the 1980s and we thought it was time to give people a new vantage point. Rather than looking down into the pit, you will now be in the pit looking up.

Cheever says following the WWII exhibit, they plan to feature an exhibit on the broader story of the 33rd and Cooper Avenue property, which will be on display later this summer.

Prior to the remodel, the Stearns History Museum has had the same layout since the 1980s.