Baraga County Historical Society broke the ground on a major expansion project on Wednesday. In the months leading up to the shovels picking up dirt, historical society worked with Jay Wakefield to determine a substantial donation to fund the work. The society also chose to use architectual design services provided by Barry Polzin for the project.
The museum is going to be about 6,400 square feet of addition on top of the little over 2,000 square feet that we have already. – Paula Mcelroy, President, Baraga County Historical Society
Baraga county historical society president Paula Mcelroy says the facility will house three new galleries to tell the story of ancient copper mining, offer space for the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community to share their story, and safeguard the history of Baraga County.
And, obviously, the three separate galleries work with three separate periods of our history. And really just complete the story. From start to finish. From ancient to modern. I think that’s an important part of what we do here as a historical society. – Paula Mcelroy, President, Baraga County Historical Society
Jay Wakefield says he wanted to donate to the project so that historians, archeologists, and many other researchers can discover the rich history of the region.
So, the first million dollars for this came out of amazon stock. But it doesn’t pay any dividends, and here I’m sitting here, 84 years old, no dividends from this stuff. What can you do better than to give it to your friends to make an institution that goes through perpetuity – Jay Wakefield, donor, Baraga County History Museum
The celebratory groundbreaking was joined by leaders of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, and a drum circle to commemorate the tribe’s involvement. The Baraga County Historical Society plans to open a seat on the board exclusively for a member of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, so the tribe has representation for decisions on the museum’s galleries, programming, and events.
Part of the addition is going to be a small gallery for the tribe to its story from its perspective. We think its incredibly important that they have that space to be able to tell that story. And that’s one of the reasons they are as excited as we are. From my understanding, they have not had a lot of interest in being able to tell their story here, and its well overdue. – Paula Mcelroy, President, Baraga County Historical Society
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