Hi-Line Living - H. EARL CLACK MEMORIAL MUSEUM

The H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum is in the process of making its own history as it moves forward with relocating to the Griggs Printing building on Fifth Avenue.

The museum purchased the two-story building back in 2013. Museum Board Chair Judi Dritshulas said the museum needs the additional space to display larger exhibits and more of its collections. The additional space will allow them to house traveling exhibits, displays from other museums, too.

“We are just wanting to save and promote our history because it is such a unique history,” Dritshulas said.  

She said 90 percent of the museum’s collectibles were being stored in a variety of locations and with different people due to the lack of space at the Holiday Village Mall, where the museum has been located since 2004.

Many of those items have now been moved into the Griggs building.

Dritshulas said the building itself is sound, but it is not known when the museum will be moved entirely into its new space.

“At this point we are still in the fundraising and grant writing and making major adjustments to the building phase,” Dritshulas said.

Last year, the H. Earl and Margaret Turner Clack Memorial Museum Foundation received a grant to remove asbestos from the building.  

The building has been reinsulated, repairs have been made to the exterior of its roof, entry doors were replaced on the section of the building facing east and a garage on the building’s south side has been knocked down to make way for a handicapped accessible entrance.

Much work, however, still needs to be done. Mortar between some of the building’s bricks still needs to be replaced and a passenger elevator needs to be installed.

A freight elevator is now in the building to transport items between floors; however, the Americans with Disabilities Act requires that a public facility also have an operating passenger elevator.

It is the elevator and its installation where the greatest expense will be, Dritshulas said.

This spring and summer the Museum Board and its foundation are hosting a series of events, some to raise money and others to educate people about the history of Hill County.

Last weekend they held Digging Up History, a replacement this year for the popular Hands on History. This year, people used heavy equipment to dig up items they exchanged for prizes.

The museum and foundation plan next year to return to Hands on History, where multiple stations are set up in which children can see and experience things from yesteryear.

An afternoon tea honoring historic Hill County women will be held this Saturday at 1:30 p.m at the Havre Inn & Suites.

Dritshulas said participants will sit at elegantly decorated tables and are encouraged to dress up as prominent women from Hill County’s past including Margaret Turner Clack, Antoinette “Toni” Hagener, Jane Buttrey and Margaret Cowan.   

People at the tea will get a chance to drink tea and dine on high-end finger food.

Last year, museum volunteers held a similar tea patterned after the PBS hit show “Downton Abby.” Dritshulas said that tea raised about $5,000.

The museum also is hosting three speakers this summer.

Dritshulas said Randy Morger will be speaking about Shep, a sheepdog who in the 1930s waited at the train station in Fort Benton for his master, who had died, to return and regularly greeted train passengers during that time. The story of the dog, who waited for his master every day until his own death, became known across the nation, and a statue dedicated to Shep stands in Fort Benton.

Two additional speakers will be hosted in Havre in June and August. James G Simmons, author of the novel “Just to Keep Even,” about the life of infamous early 20th Century Havre figure “Long George” Francis, will be one of the speakers. Dritshulas said the other speaker has not yet been selected.