Chippewa County Historical Society, Inc.

In 2003 we began the massive project of preserving the Swensson Farm Museum Barn, the cost to preserve the foundation and timber framing was over $300,000.00. In 2008 and 2009 we put a new cedar roof on the house, and have accomplished several additional large tasks at a cost of almost $100,000.00. We are however, not finished yet. We will now be lookiing at securing grants and donations to shingle the barn's roof, preserve the windows in the structure, and paint the entire building. Once that is done we will have preserved the Barn and kept it in its original condition. Did you know that the Swensson Barn is the only barn in Minnesota that is all of the following: open to the public, on the National Register of Historic Places, and in original condition! Once the Barn has been completed we will return our attention to the house with tuckpointing of the structure. We have also done numerous projects to the home and have currently began the arduous task of exactly duplicating the wallpaper in the home.

At our other site, Historic Chippewa City, we have 24 buildings which have been either moved to the site and preserved, or built on site. Over the past 7 years we have shingled almost every structure, as well as repaired and painted them. We are at the home-stretch now with just 4 buildings left to shingle, and 3 buildings left to repair and paint. Volunteers have completed most of the labor on these buildings, and funding for paint, shingles, and repairs is received from donation.