Hours: Mon-Wed, 10am to 4pm
Visits at other times can be made by appointment.
Free admission; free-will donations encouraged.
The Houston County Historical Society, an all-volunteer organization, provides many services to county residents and visitors. Located by the Houston County Fairgrounds in Caledonia, Minnesota, the Society maintains exhibits in the Main Museum, the Sheldon Presbyterian Church, Flatten-Swenson Pioneer Home, the Mayville Town Hall, the Daley School, and the Ag Machinery Building, that are open during the Society's business hours and by appointment.
Besides the exhibits and artifacts, the Society has extensive resources, including microfilm for Houston County births, deaths and marriages; land and probate records; declarations of intent and naturalization records; county newspapers; Houston County state and federal census; and county Lutheran and Presbyterian church records. Over 20,000 photographs and growing. Our library includes: county histories, plat books and maps, church and community histories, cemetery recordings and records, obituaries, clippings and ephemera files, genealogies, some school, business and church records.
Other exhibits can be found in The Church of the Holy Comforter, Episcopal in Brownsville, and the Christian Bunge Jr. Store in Eitzen. Both are on the National Register of Historic Places. The Society also maintains the former Caledonia Presbyterian Church and manse.
The Houston County Historical Society is a non-profit educational and cultural institution, established in 1948 by Dr. Carleton Qualley, a Spring Grove native, and reorganized in 1960, to preserve and share the history of Houston County. The Society collects, preserves and tells the story of Houston County's past through museum exhibits, photographs, research materials, educational programs, tours and historic sites.
