Quilter celebrates Havre's heritage in fundraiser

April 28, community members will not only have the opportunity to attend a High Tea to support the H. Earl & Margaret Turner Clack Memorial Museum Foundation, but will also have a chance to win a quilt, showcasing the heritage of Havre.

The quilt, which will be raffled off at the tea was made by Karen Vosen. Vosen, who has been quilting for over 20 years and currently has a quilt in the International Quilt Festival, grew up in Minnesota but said she has been living in Havre for more than 50 consecutive years.

She said this is the third tea for the museum and also the third time a quilt she has made will be raffled off. Vosen said she decided to make a quilt for the first tea, which had a theme of "Downton Abbey," because she found a "Downton Abbey" quilt design online.

Vosen said she works on quilts most days because she enjoys doing handwork.

"I have also donated quilts to the Boys & Girls Club for many years," she said, and is happy her quilts were able to raise money for the club.

"Havre needs it." Vosen said about donating the quilts to raise money for the club. "I have two grandsons who go to the Boys & Girls Club." She added.

Vosen said she also likes to donate a quilt to raise money for the museum since there is limited seating for the museum tea and it is a good way to make extra money for the museum foundation.

This year the theme of the tea will be "Building Havre's Heritage," and Vosen said she wanted to make a quilt that would "honor buildings in Havre."

She said she decided to start her search by contacting Val Hickman, who works in Archives, Museum, Public and Technical Services at Montana State University-Northern's Vande Bogart Library. Hickman was able to find pictures of historical buildings in Havre.

Hickman said that Vosen gave her an idea of the kinds of buildings she wanted and then Hickman went through the library archives to find several pictures that Vosen could choose from.

Vosen said she "tried to implement the most important and prominent" historic buildings.

The buildings that Vosen chose for the quilt are:

• Havre post office - currently privately owned and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

• Havre City Hall - built in 1908 and designed by Frank Bossout.

• McIntyre Opera House aka Lyric Theatre - a building that was built with wood when most buildings were of brick.

• Commanding Officers' Quarters (Fort Assiniboine) - built in 1879 and no longer standing.

• Carnegie Library - established itself with donated books and is now a privately-owned art gallery and residence.

• F.A. Buttery - became a chain store in the Pacific Northwest and housed the first Montana radio station, KFBB, in 1929.

• Sacred Heart Hospital - dedicated in 1912 and was later burned due to defective wiring.

• First Havre High School - distinguished by the front bell tower and was destroyed by fire in 1917.

• Havre Railroad Depot/Empire Builder Depot - built by James J. Hill in 1887 and brought many homesteaders to the Hi-Line.

• First Street Havre - the 1904 fire lead to rebuilding with Brick Buildings.

• Pershing Hall (Northern Montana College, now MSU-Northern) - Built with bricks taken from buildings from Fort Assinniboine, in 1934 the first graduation on campus was held in this building.

• St. Mark's Episcopal Church - completed in 1918 and was built of donated gray stone that was shipped to Havre, free of charge, by James Hill.

• Enlisted Men's Barracks (Fort Assinniboine) - these barracks were utilized as dorms for youth camps until 1954 when it burned down.

• Havre High School (white building) - served the community until 1964 when the present school opened.

• Hill County Courthouse - designed by Frank Bossout in Beaux-Arts Style of Kasota Stone.

• Masonic Temple, now the 305 Building - held its first lodge meeting in 1916 and is now privately-owned.

• Civilian Conservation Corps - held public work relief programs from young men from 1933-1942.

• Clack Grain Elevators - "an icon of the past" that played an important role in the Hi-Line.

After she chose the pictures, Vosen said, she struggled to find an inkjet printer that could print the Direct to Garment print that she needed for the quilt.

She said she was very happy then to find that fivehead's embroidery and screenprinting shop had a printer capable of printing to garment.

Derek Eldridge of fivehead's said to make sure the pictures printed clearly on the fabric, he had to resize the photos and make sure the print quality was good.

Vosen said she hopes that not only will people purchase tickets for the tea but also for the raffle. Tickets for the tea can be purchased at Brandon's Flooring or by calling Vosen at 262-2561. Raffle tickets are $5 a ticket or $20 for a book of five. Tickets for the raffle can be purchased at Brandon's Flooring, Clack Museum, at the door the day of the tea, or from various museum board members.