A blessing for the community
The future Rudd Historical Society Museum located at 210 Hampton St. used to be a Wesleyan church.
Donna Kuhlemeier paints below a window in the fellowship of the Rudd Wesleyan church, now closed.
Bonny Derr paints the ceiling of the fellowship hall of the now closed Wesleyan church in Rudd to prepare for its transformation into a museum.
Church services were offered here at the Rudd Wesleyan church at the now closed church. Press photos by Thomas Nelson.
By Thomas Nelson, tnelson@charlescitypress.com
The Rudd Historical Society will have a new museum, located at the former Wesleyan Church.
The Wesleyan Church has a lot of history in the town, first being used by a German-speaking Methodist congregation around 1894 and then becoming the Zion Wesleyan Methodist Church in the 1920s. The last services were held in June.
The Rudd Historical Society was given the church by the Wesleyans for the closing costs — that’s been $39 so far.
“We had heard for years that the church was going to close because membership was dwindling,” said historical society member Joyce Navratil. “We heard that it was closed and going to be sold for $15,000.”
The Rudd Historical Society had the $15,000, but not enough to also take care of repairs on the roof, which needs fixing as soon as possible, Navratil said.
“So we just forgot about it,” she said.
Eventually Navratil told the Wesleyan superintendent that they couldn’t afford it.
“I also told him that there’s been so much money coming in from the congregation to the headquarters, as I understood it, we thought they could just give it to us,” Navratil said. “I didn’t want tell these people this, but I was encouraged to do so, so I did.”
Several days later the superintendent called Navratil and said the church decided to give the property to the historical society, even though they had two other offers, she said.
The church was given “in the hope that it would be a blessing to the community,” Navratil said. “I feel like we’ve been blessed, and the town and historical society have been blessed by the receiving of it.”
Almost all of the closing costs have been waived by the parties involved in the sale — the real estate agent, the lawyer and title abstract person.
“The $39 that it cost us is the recording fee,” Navratil said.
There is still more than $27,000 estimated in overall repair costs.
Most of the revenue the historical society gets is from its monthly breakfasts and morning coffees. The group also makes money redeeming deposits on donated cans and bottles.
“This is what supports the historical society, along with donations and contributions,” Navratil said.
So far there aren’t any plans to charge people for coming to the museum once it opens, Navratil said.
“I want people to come in whether they can afford it or not,” she said.
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