Old Kirke Museum holds sesquicentennial opening

MANISTEE — Nothing can pique the interest of local residents and visitors to this area more than historical buildings, interesting tales of the past and culture.

On Thursday morning the Old Kirke Museum, that is located at 300 Walnut St., opened its sesquicentennial celebration. Known to many longtime residents as the former Our Saviors Lutheran (Danish) Church it was converted to a nonprofit museum in 1970 and has been overseen by the Our Savior's Historical Society.

Ken Cooper who serves as president of the Our Saviors Historical Society said they were pleased with the large number of people who turned out for a magic show by Evan Ginsburg and the dedication of the Earl Madsen Lumbering Dioramas on Thursday. The dioramas are on display in the museum's lower level and feature all types of scenes from when Madsen worked in the lumbering industry in Minnesota. That area was very similar to what transpired in the lumbering industry in this area.

"When I came to Manistee those dioramas were kind of like an urban legend," said Cooper. "Earl was very much into all the woodworking and lumbering. One of the family members told me Earl once wanted to have a big trailer that he could take them to wood show to wood show."

Cooper said the dioramas include a great deal of detail including skies painted into them.

"Manistee needs those dioramas as that is part of our heritage. Everyone in those dioramas is a portrait of a person he worked with the lumbering industry," he said.

Madsen's grandchildren have permanently loaned them to the Old Kirke Museum and several of them were at Thursday's dedication. Grandchildren Eric Madsen and Niki (Madsen) Johnson were in attendance and said they are very happy the dioramas are being displayed.

"It's been a long time coming as I remember these as a kid," said Eric. "We were just toddlers when they were located in the Jarka Warehouse, and my grandfather was probably still working on them at that time. Even as kids we always knew he wanted these out in display in public, but unless you went to the Jarka Warehouse to do business you never saw these."

Madsen said that after the Jarka Warehouse was sold, the dioramas were put in storage for many years. He said the family was very familiar with Cooper since he was a former art teacher at the Manistee Area Public Schools, and many of them and their siblings had him a teacher.

Johnson said it all started when she ran into Cooper at the museum.

"I take my son for guitar lessons every week and saw Mr. Cooper on a ladder painting here and asked him what they were doing," said Johnson. "He told me what they were doing, and I said we have this wonderful art that would be great in your museum. That got the ball rolling and my brothers moved them in here in June."

Madsen said it was always his grandfather's wish to have the dioramas shown in public.

"It's his memories of when he was in the logging camps in northern Minnesota, but it relates a lot to the lumbering we had in Michigan as well," said Madsen. "I think he was probably between 16 and 18 years of age when he went there to work, but you are not going to find many people these days hand carving and sawing a diorama of what they did for their life."

Madsen said just reading the history on the church and what he knows about the community is the perfect setting for the dioramas.

"This is just one man's story of what we are seeing in these dioramas, but think of the hundreds and thousands of others who have a similar story," said Madsen. "We are honored to have them here and I am just excited about the relationship we have with the church."

Johnson said Thursday was a special day for the family.

"We are so honored and thankful for getting this together," said Johnson.

What is also going to be a big part of the Old Kirke Musuem is a series of guest speakers in the upcoming weeks. Among them will be Cooper himself is a noted area artist.

"We have some very interesting and good speakers on a wide variety of topics like healthcare, water, music history and more," said Cooper. "When I talk next week (at 10 a.m. on July 12) I plan to talk a little about how I got into art and what my childhood was like. I did not come from the greatest  situation and hopefully that will inspire someone to hang in there and do it."

Cooper said others will follow like former WSCC president and noted historian Dr. William Anderson, who will speak about religion during the Civil War at 10 a.m. on July 19. Something else that Cooper pointed out is all the programs are free to the public, but they will accept donations to maintain the museum.

"We also have the Kentucky songwriter Mark Royal who plays in a band of his own and in Bluegrass 101, and he is going down to a festival by Mt. Pleasant the day after he comes here," said Cooper. "We also have Dr. Hashem Hilal who will speak on deteriorating health care in America, and that should be really interesting."

Others slated to talk during the summer are Mark Stewart who was lead guitarist with Paul Simon; he will speak on his life making music, while local resident John Helge will talk about the looming global fresh water crisis and what industry is doing about it.

Another speaker with local ties to Manistee is historian Gary Skory who will give a talk on something that should be of interest to local history buffs. He will speak on Manistee in the 1860s.

The last of the speakers will be Karen Curlee, who will talk about a life in song and dance. She is also doing a program at the Ramsdell Regional Center for the Arts.

"This is just the start of what we want to do," said Cooper. "We plan to be open at festivals like the Sleighbell Parade and Old Christmas Weekend with the Scandinavian Christmas, but our vision is different. We are a church and a museum, but not a museum of objects. We are a museum of people, stories and places."

Cooper said they run the Old Kirke Museum purely on the good will of the people who support them with donations.

"We have more people coming on board all the time that want to help, so we are building a core and our two goals are to preserve the building and contribute to the cultural life of Manistee," said Cooper.

Old Kirke Musuem speaker schedule

• July 12 at 10 a.m. Ken Cooper: My life in art;

• July 19 at 10 a.m. Dr. William Anderson:  Religion during the Civil war;

• July 26 at 10 a.m. Mark Royal: Kentucky songwriting;

• Aug. 2 at 10 a.m. Dr. Hasem Hilal: Deteriorating Health Care in America;

• Aug. 9 at 10 a.m. John Helge: The looming global fresh water crisis and what industry is doing in response;

• Aug. 16 at 10 a.m. Gary Skory: Manistee in the 1860s;

• Aug: 23 at 10 a.m. Mark Stewart: A life making music and sound; and

• Aug. 30 at 10 a.m. Karen Curlee: A life in song and dance.