Barnard Depot Museum receives grant

Barnard Historical Society, an affiliate of Nodaway County Economic Development, recently was awarded an $8,000 grant from the Gladys Rickard Trust to pay for completion of a new foundation for their 150-year-old Depot Museum.

The organization had been fundraising for the past three years, hoping to accumulate enough funds to replace the old foundation, which was slowly deteriorating, making the building increasingly unsafe.

The building was elevated, and a trench was dug along the entire foundation, removing failed old bricks. A base foundation was poured before constructing a three-foot block wall around the entire structure. Underneath, every six feet, block pillars were placed for mid-building support. The work was professionally and efficiently done by Luis Lujan and his crew, from Fillmore.

Although the museum patrons had been extremely generous in their donations to fund the project, it still cost more than had been accumulated. The Barnard Historical Society Board and the many involved community members are appreciative of the support shown by both NCED and the Rickard Trust. Hopefully, because of their encouragement and funding, this museum should last another 150 years.

In service to the community, the museum is open to visitors the last Sunday every month, from May through September, as well as by special request. In the last three years the depot saw 114 visitors tour the museum. Fifty-nine percent of these were local, thirty-two percent were from elsewhere in Missouri, and nine percent were from out-of-state, including folks from Iowa, Kentucky, New Jersey, South Carolina and Colorado.