Couple Helps Preserve The Past

April 25, 1990|By Pamela McKuen.

Tuesday night is ``work night`` at the Frankfort Area Historical Society Museum, where about a dozen archivists gather weekly to undertake the mundane tasks of preserving the town`s heritage.

Some index cemetery records or catalog photographs. Others arrange display cases, and one refinishes a piece of furniture. Each selects a preferred task, stopping occasionally to chat, joke or snack from a potluck spread of goodies. They work in the back room of the museum at Kansas and Hickory Streets.

Among them are Anne and Will Helms, who have lived in Frankfort for 17 years. Anne Helms is the volunteer curator of the museum and in charge of inventorying and maintaining the collections. Her husband is working to salvage a historic building; his previous endeavors have included building the tool display and refinishing an organ.

``Our goal is to keep the history of Frankfort alive,`` says Anne Helms, 43. ``People buy homes in town and restore them and want to know about them.`` ``We get requests from a lot of students, from grade school through college, who are working on papers,`` says Judy Herder, 47, society president. ``Other people want to find out about their families. They ask, `Where is so-and-so buried? Where did he go to school? What was his trade?` The more information we index, the easier the requests are to answer.``

Sorting through records from schools, local government offices and citizens is a tedious chore, she says. Some documents provide conflicting data as to when certain buildings were erected, and others were destroyed when the village hall burned in 1910. In other cases, such as with cemetery records, the volume of information is enormous.

``There are nine cemeteries in Frankfort,`` Herder says. Some date back to the 1830s.

After older homes and buildings have been accurately traced, the society furnishes plaques denoting the year of construction.

Another project-Will Helms` pet-is to preserve the brick building that housed one of Frankfort`s earliest industries, a creamery, on the north side of town on La Grange Road. The unoccupied structure is threatened with demolition when the road is widened this summer.

``The creamery was the center point for dairy production in this area,``

says Helms, 45. ``It is part of our community and part of our heritage. We`ve been trying to get the state to recognize it as a landmark and to come up with ideas where to move it and what to do with it.``

The creamery was in operation from about 1870 to about 1900, he says.

Now a salesman for a bread company, Helms is a former history teacher. He also studied German while in college. The Helmses have a grown daughter.

``I`ve always been interested in history, and this area was settled by Germans,`` he says. ``Working with the historical society fulfills both my interests.``

The historical society was founded in 1972 and lists about 125 members. A non-profit organization, the group is funded by dues, donations, proceeds from special events and fundraisers. The village provides the museum building and maintains it.

Originally a livery barn and later headquarters for the police department, the museum is one of the society`s largest and most visible enterprises. A decade ago, when the police department moved into modernized quarters in the same complex, the village offered the space to the society and remodeled it to their specifications. In 1982 the museum was opened to the public.

Inside a plank sidewalk guides visitors to wooden display cases and exhibits of turn-of-the-century room settings. Among the artifacts are tools, dishes, typewriters, photographs and clothing. Church pews provide seating for visitors.

One area, designed as a child`s bedroom, has a selection of wooden toys. Anne Helms and Herder say they would like to acquire more of them.

``Years ago people used clothes, toys, everything until they wore out,``

Herder says. ``When you do find something in good condition, it`s very expensive.``

Though the group buys some items, many are donated by Frankfort-area residents. Recent acquisitions include a child`s antique wooden walker and a cream separator.

Programs include field trips to historic points of interest, such as Galena, Springfield and the Henry Ford Museum, near Detroit. The group has had speakers on subjects such as the Civil War and pioneer farming tools, and it presents educational programs to area schools. Each year during the village`s fall festival, tours are given through the village via horse-drawn wagon.

In December the group sponsors a house walk, a walking tour of some of the village`s historic homes or newer homes furnished with antiques and decorated for the Christmas holidays.

The Helms` 30-year-old home falls into the latter category and is one of the stopping points.

``The couches are about the only things that aren`t antiques,`` Anne Helms says. Most of the furniture has been refinished by her and her husband. In the Helms` kitchen is a wood-burning stove, which has been converted to gas. They also have an ice box.

``Both Anne and Will are active members and very knowledgeable about antiques and refinishing,`` Herder says. ``They have added that dimension to the society.``

``This is a neat group of people, and it seems like a lot of our active members are people who were not born and raised here,`` Anne Helms says. ``We do fun things, and I enjoy knowing other people are getting something out of this, just as I am.``


The Frankfort Area Historical Society Museum is open 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays, March through December. Groups tours may be arranged by appointment. For more information, write to the Frankfort Area Historical Society, P.O. Box M, Frankfort, Ill., 60423.