Preserving the Past

If you’ve walked down Minnetrista Boulevard or through Oakhurst Gardens lately, you may have noticed a variety of projects happening with our historic structures. From windows being removed and re-installed at Oakhurst, to a new roof going on the Mary Lincoln Cottage, the Boulevard has been a very active place. While of course all houses need regular maintenance, our historic buildings at Minnetrista are unique. Just like our historic Ball jars, furniture, and archival material, Oakhurst and its garage, the Lucius L. Ball home, and the Mary Lincoln Cottage are all part of the Minnetrista Heritage Collection. A museum artifact as big as a house? Yes! These buildings are also part of the Minnetrista Boulevard Historic District – a district comprised of the five existing side-by-side Ball family homes, and included on the National Register of Historic Places since 2012.

Just like our smaller artifacts, Minnetrista’s staff work to preserve and protect our historic structures, while using them to meet our mission and vision as a museum and gardens. As the home of the Ball jar, Minnetrista is a catalyst for community engagement. We create shared experiences that connect people. These experiences lead not only to a better quality of life in our region, but they also build pride in our community. To achieve these goals Minnetrista utilizes its entire forty-acre site. And it takes staff with a variety of backgrounds, expertise, and skills working together. From gardens to indoor exhibits, and painting workshops to pressing cider, we try to engage all of the senses in carrying on the legacy of the Ball family, creating meaningful experiences for our visitors, and telling the stories of our community.

In the case of Oakhurst and the Lucius L. Ball home, meeting that mission includes activating these structures to house long-term exhibits such as the Oakhurst Experience and the Bob Ross Experience. We also utilize the houses and their surrounding grounds for programs and events. Perhaps you’ve enjoyed Fairies, Sprites, and Lights in the Oakhurst gardens. Or, maybe you’re a daily visitor whose family enjoys playing in the Backyard Garden behind the Lucius L. Ball home. Have you visited any of the temporary exhibits we host in the second floor gallery of Oakhurst? If you haven’t yet, you’ll find a warm and inviting gallery space with stunning views of the surrounding grounds. Our historic structures also serve the very important role of providing Minnetrista’s staff a place to work. Without our staff there would be no exhibits, programs, Farmer’s Market, or family days. To plan and put together all of those offerings, staff need space to work – to collaborate – to create. Soon, one of those places will be the Mary Lincoln Cottage, where we are creating office space for about ten of our staff members.

In order for our historic structures to perform all of these functions, however, they need to be well-maintained and well cared for. But, because these homes are part of our collection we must approach their maintenance in specific ways. Our goal is to maintain and preserve the historic integrity of the homes to the best of our abilities. That means we work to maintain historic materials used in the construction of the buildings as often as we can. When original materials fail and must be replaced, we look to do so with similar products in order to maintain the historic character of the structures.

For example, while many private homeowners may choose to remove their house’s original windows to install modern vinyl ones, that is not an option for our historic homes. When we began maintenance work on our windows at Oakhurst, we never considered that approach. To do so would have changed the entire historic appearance of that building. At the same time it would have also impacted the visual history of the entire historic Boulevard. Too often we believe that removing “old” and replacing with “new” is a magic bullet for improving the functionality of old buildings. Historic elements such as windows, however, were designed to operate and function in specific ways – in harmony with the structure as a whole. With a little TLC these older features can remain just as efficient as their modern counterparts, while also continuing to exist as a piece of our collective history.

Here at Minnetrista caring for our historic structures (just like every other part of our museum collection) is an ongoing daily task. We preserve these treasures for everyone’s education and enjoyment. And we preserve them for the future. Through that work we strive for our historic homes not to be stoic, quiet relics of the past, but active parts of our organization and community. They are living collections pieces, and the energy that visitors and staff bring into the homes mean the houses are alive and changing every day. Whether you have visited Minnetrista recently or not for a while, we look forward to your next stop at our site. While you’re here we invite you to step into some of our largest collection pieces, and we hope you take awe in being surrounded by history while making connections with our community.