The Oneida Pioneer Museum will hold its annual Grand Opening and Bake Sale on Saturday, May 27. The Bake Sale, a fundraiser for the Museum, will be from noon to 2:00 p.m. while the Museum will be open from noon until 5:00 p.m. that day. 

The Museum will be open on Memorial Day from 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Regular hours will begin on Tuesday, May 30. The Museum is open from Memorial Day through Labor Day from 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Hostesses at the Museum this year will be Shelia Hawkins and Krystle Jensen with Board members volunteering, as needed.

Historic Marker 

Walking Tour

Everyone is invited to stop by the Museum and pick up a map of the walking tour of downtown Malad that features the new historic markers. To celebrate the Museum’s Grand Opening, almost all 20 historic markers have been placed. These first 20 historic sites are all along North Main and Bannock Street, but at least 20 additional sites have been identified for future placement of markers.

The Museum’s Historic Marker Committee members Marvin Hess and Bill Lewis mounted the markers on the walls of historic buildings. Marvin supervised Galen Garrett in the digging of postholes and pouring of cement for the pedestal-mounted signs. The pedestals were designed and made by Craig Jacaway at his company Western Fabrication.

The information on the markers will be expanded on the Museum’s website with archival research, pictures, and documents. Liz Kent is the Museum’s webmaster, who has designed the Museum’s website: www.oneidapioneermuseum.org. Historic information will be added and corrected on the website as more details are reported and researched.

Museum Projects

Other projects that have been completed prior to the Museum’s opening for the summer include the covering of the outdoor stairwell that once led to a basement barbershop. With crumbling steps, the stairwell had become a dangerous eyesore. Marvin Hess arranged for Rex Robbins to construct and mount the cover for the stairwell opening. Cruz Carter applied the seal coat to the cover, and Galen Garrett painted the railing surrounding the new cover. The cover is a temporary solution to an ongoing problem, but eventually the entire sidewalk, curb, and gutter will be replaced, the stairwell steps will be made safe, and the old-time barbershop will be one of the Museum’s displays.

The mezzanine in the Museum has been closed off for a year due to it being used as a storage area for the quilts and clothing that were professionally preserved in a project funded by the Idaho Heritage Trust. J.D. Thomas and his subcontractors have finished two rooms upstairs in the Museum that will be used as storage for the quilts and clothing so that the displays can easily be switched around. Dotty and Brent Evanson painted the new storage rooms and came to the realization that someday the old bathroom at the end of the hall, which was used by boarders of the 13 rooms on the top floor of the building, will need to have running water to make thorough cleaning of the area possible.

The new window displays are the creation of the Window Committee, comprised of Dotty Evanson, Sharon Harris, Janice Vaughan, Hailee Sweeten, and Liz Kent.

Everyone is invited to visit Malad’s local repository of historic items and see artifacts from the pioneer era of Oneida County.