Grant County Historical Society of Elbow Lake Minnesota

The Grant Historical Society preserves, explains and shares the history of people, life, and events of Grant County.

The Grant County Historical Society was organized in 1938 and incorporated in 1944 to collect and preserve the history of Grant County.  For many years the display space was set aside in the courthouse for artifacts. 

Our museum building was built in 1960, funded in part from a bequest, which included a 600 acre farm, from Betsey and Hannah Anderson of Elk Lake Township.  It was one of the first building in the state to be built for the purpose of becoming a museum.

Major additions were added in 1975 and in 2008, when, courtesy of the Elbow Lake American Legion Post, a Veterans' Hall was added to display military exhibits and provide a meeting space.  A one-room school and 1865 log cabin are also part of our museum.

Exhibits cover a wide range of county history beginning from prehistoric times.  The period of early settlement through WWII are especially well represented.

In addition to exhibits we also have numerous archival resources available for researchers, especially genealogists.  These include county newspapers, naturalization records, church records, census records, photographs and plat maps to name a few.

In recent years we have been working on bringing our 50+ year old building up-to-date, more energy efficient, and handicapped accessible by repairing the roof, replacing lighting, remodeling bathrooms, etc. 

We are also working on improving our collections storage and care as funds allow.