Phase 2 of the Penn Colony Museum

The Pennsylvania Colony Historical Society of Nebraska, Inc. (Penn Colony) recently celebrated the one year anniversary of the opening of its museum/community building at Dawson, Ne.  This project marked another major accomplishment of the Penn Colony. The Penn Colony publishes a multi-color, multi-page newsletter three times per year.  The publication contains historical articles on the Penn Colony and on the Dawson, NE area.  The Penn Colony maintains a web site (www.penncolonynebraska.com) which contains historical articles, general Penn Colony information and an online record of the burials at the Heim Cemetery in Dawson, NE. The Penn Colony has restored a late 1800’s farm house just outside Dawson, Ne. and has furnished it with early 1900 artifacts. With the closing of the Methodist Church in Dawson, the completion of the museum/community building has provided the area with another venue for meetings, reunions, anniversary gatherings, funeral luncheons, etc.

With the use of the museum/community building as a community building, the space available to display artifacts has been reduced.  A Phase 2 project has been designed to allow more area for display cases and actual displays.  The Phase 2 project would be an extension of the existing building and would utilize many of the features of the present building – main electrical transformer and electrical panel, kitchen, rest rooms, etc.  Phase 2 is to be a 40’ x 52’ extension of the present building.  Its estimated cost is approximately $90,000.

Donations have funded the acquisition of the building site, the restoration of the farm house, and a portion of the construction costs of the museum/community building.  The Penn Colony does have a loan for a portion of the construction costs on the museum/community building.

The financial plan for the Phase 2 portion of the museum/community building is to fund as much as possible with donations and the remainder with a loan.

The Penn Colony has no “paid” employees.  All work is performed by volunteers.  All of the Directors serve on a volunteer/no compensation basis.  All funds donated are used for the operations and debt retirement of the Penn Colony.

The Penn Colony actively works towards the promotion of the Dawson, Ne. /Richardson County, Ne. area.  The Penn Colony has actively assisted the Humboldt, Ne. area with the development of its historical society, working to bring new business to the area and the providing the town with a site for its new fire department building.

The Penn Colony is a qualified 501(c) (3) tax exempt organization.
 
The Penn Colony is seeking your help with our Phase 2 project.  Several of the grant requests we are working on require matching funds.  The more funds we are able to raise, the greater the possibility for matching funds.

Funds raised for the Phase 2 project will be deposits in a separate account.  In this way we will be able to identify the funds as available for any matching grant.

We are asking for your financial assistance as we move forward with this project.  Cash donations are welcome.  Donations of grain or securities are welcome.  We have made arrangements with a brokerage firm to accept donations of stocks or bonds.  If this is an option you would like to pursue, please contact me.  Donations from qualified retirement accounts in the form of IRA rollovers are welcome.  There are income tax advantages to all of the donations and I would be pleased to discuss them with you.

Thank you for your consideration of the Penn Colony as we move on to Phase 2.

Sincerely,

Daniel T. Pleiss

President

 

Our current Board of Directors are:

Michelle Heim             Marilyn Ogle             John Heim               Karen Krofta

Keith Heim                Shirley Pierce            Cindy Callaway            Daniel T. Pleiss

Douglas J. Brown David Shorney            Lorrie Novak