Halstead Historical Society Board Minutes

October 30, 2025

President Joleen Ross called the meeting to order at 7:08 p.m. at the depot. Present were Ruby Buller, Tessa Wendling, Rich Basore, Gina Marx, Joe Trego, Jared Janzen and Kim Hon. Sarah Rizza was absent.

Gina had several corrections to the September 25 minutes. Ruby made a motion to approve the minutes with corrections. Kim seconded it, and it carried.

Corresponding Secretary's Report

Ruby said she has three thank-you notes to write. She also needs to purchase stamps.

Ruby brought up whether “time spent” qualifies as gift-in-kind donation under state law. Kim asked about professionals donating their labor, but Tessa pointed out that she personally has to consider this pro bono.

Treasurer's Report

Tessa said we have around $5,900 in our checking account. The Money Market account is around $20,000; Pine Park account has $1,800; and the community foundation funds have about $23,300 and $29,400. Noting the $3,373.12 payment to Prairie Builders, Gina asked if we had finally expended all of the DRAGON grant money on the cargo door restoration, and Tessa said the door still needed another coat of paint.

Gina said Deanna does not need reimbursement for the gift basket she created for Big Kansas Road Trip.

Gina contact Craig Sooter about hooking up to his Starlink for internet. Joleen said we would have to discuss this more because we don't want to lose our phone line so that we have a voicemail.

Bills to pay included a $357.34 payment to Kim for Gaylord archival supplies, which will be covered by the $400 Halstead Community Foundation grant we received earlier in the year. Ruby made a motion to approve the reimbursement; Gina seconded it, and it carried.

Museum Committee

Kim said she bought acid-free tissue paper and enclosures for the Jewett glass negatives using the HCF grant money. She said her committee has been doing fantastic things. They filled up another accessioning notebook. The museum currently has 2,560 items accessioned. Kim reported an issue with the door to the storage room (old bathroom). Joe will take a look at it.

Kim said we're having problems with storing uniforms. They're currently hanging up, but she thought it may behoove us to store them in boxes.

Buildings and Grounds

No one has had any luck getting ahold of Santa Fe about removing the tree on their side of the fence. Joe said he'd check with David Albers to see if he could help.

Joleen thanked Joe for putting the sign at the corner back up.

Old Business

We've sold 11 tickets so far for Phil Aylward's train layout raffle. Jared will contact Harvey

County Now to publicize the raffle.

Ruby gave Jared contact information for Don Decker's son Terry to write a memorial about him after his recent death. Don was a long-time board member.

Craig had the new security system installed. Joe and Joleen will be the contact people if the alarm is triggered. The system is currently off until everyone has been trained.

New Business

Tessa, Bill Charlsen, and Flory Roofing checked for damage to the depot after the hailstorm two months ago. There's a broken storm window and some other minor damage not worth an insurance claim. Joe will take a look at it.

Joleen suggested we table the discussion of the items we saw at Rich's farm in August.

Regarding naming the ticket office, we need to come up with criteria and publicize it in the newsletter. We would ask what the family has done for the community and how much money they'd be willing to give for the naming rights. Joleen and Rich will work on formalizing the criteria by the next meeting. Ruby said the Learning Center named a room for Don Decker after he made a $5,000 or $6,000 donation. Joe said he'd consider making a donation for the naming rights. The final decision for naming rights will be made by the board.

Board members are continuing to look for ways to decorate the depot with lights for Christmas without damaging the roof tiles. Ruby said she had many lights she could donate to the museum. Kim suggested staking lights into the ground around the perimeter. Tessa said we could wrap our tree trunks.

Ruby said Barb Ward is interested in making another donation to the museum before the end of the year. Gina and Tessa said we need to scrape all the layers of lead-based paint off the exterior of the building and repaint it, which could cost more than $30,000. There's also the plaster in the office and crumbling concrete around the loading dock. Ruby said she would invite Barb here for a tour.

The chicken noodle and chili fundraiser will be December 6 at Golden Harvest during the Christmas Jingle. Deanna and Ruby will make pies. Joleen will put together a sign-up sheet.

Discussion of the Night at the Museum or spring open house was tabled.

Gina shared a website mockup from Debbie Lubbers. Gina asked for a photo of Lucyle Jewett and blurb to include in the notable people section of the website. The board agreed we want the website to allow people to renew their memberships, schedule tours, make donations, sign up for the newsletter, and volunteer. Gina noted there would be a small processing fee when people make donations through the website, but this should be less than the 3% processing fee when people donate through the community foundation website. Gina said the SquareSpace website would cost 30-some dollars per month. This may require a credit card, which Tessa said she would look into. Rich suggested the renderings of the depot should include some people, dogs or cars to liven it up.

Gina noted she would be meeting with Superintendent Dr. Ron Barry and Principal Chad Baalman in December about creating a Wall of Fame for famous people from Halstead.

Gina presented estimates, including two concrete estimates, two plaster estimates, and two cargo door estimates. Gina asked if any of the cargo doors should be operational besides the east one. Board members felt it would be good to have more than one operational, including one on the lower level. Danny McKee also gave an estimate to paint the whole exterior of the depot.

• Prairie Builders estimated $53,000 to rebuild the remaining doors (no paint)

• Wayne Morgan of Oakland Avenue Craftsman estimated $14,250 to $16,900 to repair the doors (no paint)

• Jim Woller of Chapman estimated $6,000 to restore the doors and $3,400 to paint.

• Oakland estimated $2,300 to $3,350 for plaster work in the office (no paint/stencil)

• Woller estimated $4,200 to plaster the office, Basore and Dreese galleries, plus $3,200 to paint and stencil.

• Oakland estimated $7,250 to $9,750 for concrete work around the dock

• Becker Building estimated $9,750 for concrete work around the dock. Wally also reccommended an optional latex concrete overlay, which he doesn't do, but his research suggested it could be $21,840.

Gina said it would be very doable to get all these projects done with a $100,000 grant. The Heritage Trust Grant application is due Monday, but Gina hoped to have it submitted the day after the board meeting. The board was in consenus for Gina to submit the grant application. We'll know in February if we are awarded the grant.

The board agreed to set the annual meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, February 3 at the senior center.

Joleen reported she had applied for a $5,000 SEED grant to fully replace our main sign near the corner of First and Main. Josh Milsspaugh and Ryan Carmichael estimated about $12,000 to make a new wooden sign. We'll learn the results of this grant in December or January. Joleen suggested adding a light to the new sign.

New Acquisitions

We've acquired several Kansas history books from the Tom Ross estate, as well as a 1906 Halstead diploma for Miss Barnard. Rich donated a 1097 ink well to sit on the roll-top desk and a 1957 guide to North American railways.

Joleen also reported she had done some research on the old barbershop that was once in the basement of Halstead Life Church (the Tibbot building), which was recently unearthed as the city poured a new sidewalk. She also mentioned that Halstead Public Library had received $10,000 from the Carnegie Corporation since Halstead once had a Carnegie library.

The meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m.

Halstead Historical Society Board Minutes

November 20, 2025

President Joleen Ross called the meeting to order at 7:07 p.m. at the depot. Present were Ruby Buller, Sarah Rizza, Kim Hon, Richard Basore, Joe Trego, Jared Janzen, and guest Karol Hunt. Tessa Wendling and Gina Marx were absent.

To begin the meeting, Karol, who is a member of the museum committee, shared about how she is working to digitize our six accessioning notebooks. She is entering relevant information for each item into a spreadsheet and will also link it to a scanned image of the original accessioning paperwork. This will allow us to search our records based on keywords like book titles, authors, dates, family connections, donors, storage location, etc.

Rich noted he had some magazines to donate that had some articles about the Vietnam War relevant to the battle where Richard Wright was killed. He suggested adding these to our files on Pine Park and the veterans memorialized there.

Karol left the meeting after her presentation.

Ruby made a motion to accept the October 30 minutes as presented. Joe seconded it, and it carried.

Corresponding Secretary's Report

Ruby said she had nothing to report.

Treasurer's Report

None provided.

Kim made a motion that we pay the $1,600 bill for the new alarm system; Joe seconded it, and it was approved. Craig Sooter is contributing $500 toward the cost. We'll be billed $25 per month for the alarm system. Joe and Joleen are the contact people, but they haven't been able to log into Alarm.com yet. Tessa also told Joleen that a credit card and Square would be $17-20 per month., and we'll also be adding a monthly expense for the website. However, Craig has suggested we get rid of our landline and replace it with a satellite phone that can take messages. Eliminating that $120 monthly expense will offset the new expenses of the alarm system, credit card, and website.

Barb Ward wrote us a check for 5,000. Janice Moyer also donated $500.

Museum Committee Report

Kim said the committee found the box of Jewett family glass slides. A couple are broken. Most of them are of people, and they have good notes identifying the people. Kim requested new envelopes for the 4x5s, a new storage box, 8x10 barrier boards, and a boot box, all for a total of $139. Joe made a motion to approve the purchase; Sarah seconded it, and it carried.

Two visitors from the Big Kansas Road Trip donated a few books written by Murat Halstead that we didn't already have.

Larry Haury, a relative of Kent Haury, gave us some photos of round barns built by Benton Steele.

Building and Grounds

Joe said he changed a lightbulb. He also said he and Rich want to buy an air compressor for $400-500 to hook up to a small whistle that guests could blow. He would tone it down so it's just heard inside the building. Board members were concerned about the price. It was suggested that Joe check about buying the one from Vern diger's estate.

This winter, Joe plans to mount the telegraph under the front counter and another at the baggage

window for guests to send messages. He said he would hide the wires, and mounting them wouldn't cause any damage.

Our grant applications for the Heritage Grant and SEED Grant were submitted on time, but we won't learn the results until next year.

Old Business

We've sold 11 tickets for Phil Aylward's model train layout raffle. Bill Bush will be writing a story for the Harvey County Now about it. The raffle will be at 5:00 on December 6.

Jared gave a list of stories planned for the next newsletter that will come out in time for the Christmas Jingle soup supper.

Macey Mueller asked if the horse-drawn wagon could use our driveway as a pickup location during the Christmas Jingle. Joleen said it would therefore behoove us to decorate for Christmas. Joe said he got some free lumber to place on the baggage cart. He plans to make a Christmas tree out of rebar that can be decorated with lights. He also volunteered to man a fire pit outside the museum during the Jingle. Joleen suggested putting some greenery on the outside of the depot using command hooks or by adjusting the window screws. Joleen has greenery and Ruby has lights. They'll decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving.

New Business

Joleen and Rich shared what they had written up as criteria for naming the Master Ticket Office. We'll publicize this in our newsletter, the newspaper, online, and other places. The Patterson Foundation will offer another match opportunity for donations in March, so this would be a good deadline to shoot for. We'll begin getting the word out and tell people to stay tuned for more info. We can also encourage others to donate lesser amounts and still get their name on our honorary wall.

Fundraiser

Setup for the soup supper will begin at 3:30 at Golden Harvest. Sarah will bring a generator and chili. Kim will also bring chili, and Gina and Mary Wong will make chicken noodle. Ruby, Joleen, Deanna, Jared, and possibly Betty Burbrink will bring pies; Joe will bring cookies, and we'll check with Tessa about brownies. Rich will also contribute toward Ruby's pie expenses. Kim will take care of hot dogs, condiments, toppings, and eating utensils. Kim asked anyone who has a pie-cutter to bring it. We'll also need to transport two tables from the depot to Golden Harvest. We won't serve pop this year.

Other Business

Kim said to let Gina know that we own our own website domain. We just need Craig Sooter to sign off on it.

Joleen added that she would like to give a program on the history of Halstead's Carnegie Library during our annual meeting in February.

The meeting adjourned at 8:22 p.m.