6/20/2022 9:46:00 AM Stewartville Area Historical Society meets to discuss goals
The Stewartville Alumni Association, which has disbanded, has donated $1,807.74 of its remaining funds to the Stewartville Area Historical Society (SAHS). Standing in front of the historic Sears House, Rosemary Oeltjen of the Alumni Association, left, presents the check to Buck Fredricksen, SAHS treasurer and spokesperson. The Alumni Association donated another $2,500 of its remaining funds to the Stewartville Public Library, which will use part of the funding to pay for large-print books. "We're sad we're disbanding, but we're happy the funds can go for a good cause," Oeltjen said. After the first Stewartville High School class graduated in 1902, the Alumni Association sponsored reunions for SHS graduates every five years, she said.
More than 1,200 people are following the Stewartville Area Historical Society's Facebook page, established online a little more than a year ago, Buck Fredricksen told a group gathered at the east pavilion at Florence Park last week. Fredricksen, treasurer and spokesperson for the SAHS, organized the meeting to discuss the Society's future goals. He said local and area residents continue to fill the Facebook page with historical photos, news clippings, stories and memories of people who grew up in the Stewartville area. Fredricksen reminded the group the SAHS's mission is to preserve and promote the rich history of the Stewartville area from its beginnings in the mid-1800s. The SAHS is focused on stories about Richard Sears, the founder of Sears, Roebuck and Co., born in Stewartville on Dec. 7, 1863, and the history of Pleasant Grove, High Forest, Racine, Hamilton and Simpson townships, he said... For more on this story pick up your copy of the June 21 Stewartville STAR.
