Our local historical societies do amazing work. We are blessed to have a small but dedicated workforce and a legion of volunteers who work to keep the story of Cook County alive. In all corners of the county there are places to visit that house pieces of our past—the Cross River Heritage Center in Schroeder, the North Shore Commercial Fishing Museum in Tofte, the Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center up the Gunflint Trail, the Cook County Historical Society Museum and the Grand Portage National Monument and Heritage Center in Grand Portage.
In addition to the buildings that present memorabilia of days gone by, there are historic sites and re-creations of historic sites. The Commercial Fishing Museum has the lovely fishing skiff replica, the Mary Alice. On the Grand Marais harbor shoreline sits the antique fishing vessel, the Neegee.
There are buildings too. The Grand Portage National Monument has the magnificent Great Hall and a boathouse filled with replica voyageur canoes. There is the historic Chippewa City Church on the outskirts of Grand Marais.
All of these things are treasured by residents and visitors alike. So it is not surprising that when the Cook County Historical Society received an offer to purchase another historic building at a less-than-market price, that organization jumped at the chance.
In February, representatives of the historical society appeared before the Cook County commissioners, asking them to partner in a grant application to purchase Bally’s Blacksmith Shop. The historical society hoped to obtain a grant to buy the old building.
Of course there was discussion and some debate. This is Cook County, after all. Nothing gets settled immediately. And it is very, very, seldom that the residents of Cook County agree on anything. If by chance the citizens agree, visitors to our little community will disagree. So it isn’t very often that the greater community can agree on something.
However, there seems to be consensus on the restoration and preservation of Bally’s Blacksmith Shop. After the Cook County commissioners worked out the details and agreed to partner with the historical society on the grant, Museum Director Carrie McHugh set about gathering support for the application.
The response to her notice requesting letters was overwhelming. In the community that is divided on just about everything, there were no naysayers. Well, no naysayers other than fourthgrader Sam Sietsma, who wrote a tongue-in-cheek letter to the editor expressing the desire to keep the blacksmith shop locked up to protect the mystery of the place.
Instead, Carrie McHugh received an amazing 500 letters of support from Cook County and beyond. I was one of the many people who endorsed the historical society’s idea. I like the old white building, which I’ve always thought looked like a little house in a toy train set. It is an important part of the face of Grand Marais— it’s been the backdrop for millions of photos and is a reminder of the hardworking pioneers of Cook County.
So I was very glad to learn this week that the historical society and the county will be recipients of a Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund Partnership Grant to preserve the old building. Now when I look at the old blacksmith shop, I won’t just see a piece of Cook County history. I’ll see a symbol of what we can do as a community when we all work together.
If you don’t know history, then you
don’t know anything. You are a
leaf that doesn’t know it is part of
a tree.
Michael Crichton
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