Exhibit Type
Temporary Exhibit
On Display
May 12-June 19 2016
Reception Date
"Coffee, Rolls & Conversation" June 4, 2016 | 10AM-Noon

When Irma Hageman walked into the Carnegie Cultural Center with her lovingly assembled scrapbooks focusing on Sacred Heart Church at Reilly Ridge Settlement, it got the archives folks to thinking: How many other church have come and gone in Chickasaw County? So far the search has turned up thirty-one…kinda. One result of the research is a temporary exhibit, “Lost Churches of Chickasaw County,” on display through June 19 at the Carnegie in New Hampton.

The qualification “kinda” is indicative of the challenge involved in determining which churches are actually “gone”. More than once in local history, ownership of a particular church building changed among differing denominations. Other times, mergers resulted in the loss of one church building, or the name of the one church, or both. The only evidence as the existence of some early churches in a notation on a map. Perhaps the trickiest aspect of tracing a particular congregation’s history is the propensity of church to change their names. Imagine trying to trace a family tree in which ancestors may have changed their name several times over the course of their lifetime. In any and all of these cases, the theme of “Lost Churches of Chickasaw County” makes for an intriguing exhibit.

Anyone interested in local history or has a connection to one of Chickasaw County’s lost churches is invited to attend “Coffee, Rolls & Conversation” on Saturday, June 4 | 10AM-Noon. Everyone is encouraged to bring their memories, stories, photos, and other ephemera to share.