Scott County Historical Museum

Today is National Sons & Daughters Day and we have many photos in our collection of siblings. We randomly picked 3. We have Maurice and Loretta Stans (who grew up in the house next to Scott County Historical Society), the three Ediger siblings of Belle Plaine and Donald and DeWayne Strehlow of Shakopee.

We just wanted to give everyone a friendly heads-up, this upcoming Saturday (August 15th) our Research Library will only be open from 10:00am - Noon due to the program (Making Countless Memories) which will be held in that space starting at 1:00pm.
The remainder of the Historical Society & Museum will be open regular hours (10:00am - 3:00pm). Thank you for understanding!

As we look at the remainder of 2026 and ahead to 2027 we would love to have your input on a few things - so we are going to be asking for your opinions on here over the next few days.

Our first two questions will look at programs/events. We want to plan things when the most people can make it and we want to plan things that you all are interested in attending 😀

Today we are wondering, if you were to attend a program or event at SCHS....would a weekday (during the day), weekday (evening), weekend (during the day), or weekend evening work best?

Let us know in the comments! (or send an e-mail/message/give Lindsay a call at 952-445-0378 or just stop by if you'd prefer).

We know every season is different....and every week varies so just in general :)

It's National Bowling Day - who doesn't love a good game of bowling! There are many bowling alleys across the county and many bowling teams between the high schools, businesses and organizations! You can always check out our website (Search the Collection tab) and find more. But here are a few items from the collection. We have Pat Donnelly's pin from when she played on the New Prague High School bowling team in 1954. We also have a photo of the Rock Spring Bowling team from 1951 featuring John Lynch, Al Johnson, Henry Workman, Neil Kline, and Bill Wermerskirchen.

Our microfilm machines will be unavailable today (Friday Aug 07) from 12:30-2:30 today so we can use them as part of a field trip. We apologize for the short notice!

Today is the start of International Clown Week, so here are a few clown-related picks from our collection. We have a photo of an unidentified clown taken from the Lebens photo collection and a New Years Eve clown noisemaker used by the Coller family of Shakopee.

https://www.fox9.com/news/shakopees-valleyfair-marks-50-seasons-making-minnesota-summer-memories

SCHS had another brief feature - but also some fun archival film footage thanks to Valleyfair! Thanks Fox 9 for stopping by to visit and sharing a piece of Scott County’s history!

Shakopee’s Valleyfair marks 50 seasons of making Minnesota summer memories Valleyfair is marking 50 years of summer fun, memories and thrills for generations of Minnesotans.

Today is National Carousel Day. The carousel at Valleyfair came from Excelsior Amusement Park and is over 100 years old! Pictured here is a postcard of the colorful, galloping ponies, and some employees installing or repairing the ride.
To finish off our national carousel day post, we also have a photo of a young girl named Sara from Belle Plaine in a studio portrait on a carousel horse in 1997.

We have decided to postpone the Library/SCHS Battle of the Tales Trivia event, which was scheduled for this Saturday July 25th at 10am for a later date (to be announced) due to a low numbers. We do hope to hold this event in the near future!

Join us for our annual meeting Wednesday August 12th starting at 4:00pm. This year we will hold the meeting at Scott County Historical Society. We are requiring registration this year - please let us know if you can make it by August 7th at 3pm. To register, please call SCHS at 952-445-0378 or email us at [email protected]. Thank you for understanding!

This year we the agenda will be a quick business meeting, followed by a light meal, and then wrapping the evening up with a presentation by Shakopee Heritage Society's David Schleper who will present, "A+ for Teachers - Educator's in Early Shakopee".