We're expanding!
New Historical Society Museum coming to Franklin Street (just behind 315 Clay Street)
Thanks to a generous donor, any gift or pledge to the A Home for Our History campaign received June 1 through July 31, 2025 will be matched up to $100,000! Donate below, or by sending a check to the Cedar Falls Historical Society!
When asked why he supports the campaign, the donor responded, "Each generation stands on the shoulders of the previous generation. So our future advancements rely in part on understanding the past and learning and growing from our history to create a brighter present and future. And museums play a critical role in this educational process. A new museum is truly a gift that will continue for generations to come."
Our Home
Home is the core of our human connections, the repository of our shared memories and the place we're better able to understand who we are. Until now in Cedar Falls, there hasn't been a home that meets the needs of the community or those working to preserve and teach history.
At the Cedar Falls Historical Society, exhibit, educational and special program space is severely limited, as is sufficient room for collections. Proper preservation and storage of delicate artifacts is difficult. Technologies to increase exploration and engagement - especially for young people - lack required infrastructure. Access to exhibits is insufficient.
The new building planned to be built on Franklin Street, behind the Historical Society's new education center at 315 Clay Street, will be a home for our history. As a centralized location it will increase access to the rich and varied stories of Cedar Falls and its people and will make it easier for all of us to unwrap and revel in our shared history.
The modern exhibit areas and artifact storage spaces will help us keep pace with current and future technological advances and allow ever new and engaging modes of education and communication.
Like a home, children and adults of all ages can return again and again, each time learning something new, and always leaving with a deeper understanding and appreciation of our roots and their relevance to the lives we lead today.
Our Plan
The Home for Our History capital campaign seeks $3.5 million. A donation to the campaign supports construction of a new interactive museum building directly behind the new education center at 315 Clay Street. The main level will be filled with interactive exhibits and STEM-based storytelling focused on agriculture, industry, business, and transportation. The lower level will provide archival quality storage space for our ever-growing collections of artifacts.
Make History
Gifts to the campaign may be made in cash, stock, securities, IRA or donor-advised fund distributions, bequests, real estate, life insurance and personal property.
Matching gifts through your employer or your spouse's employer can double or even triple your gift.
Pledges are encouraged and may be extended over a period of up to five years.
Your gift may be made in honor of or in memory of someone.
Your gift is tax-deductible to the greatest extent of the law.
There are still naming opportunities
available for both the education center (phase 1) and the new museum (phase 2).
Interested in how you can support this project or would like to learn more? Contact Carrie Eilderts, Executive Director, by email
or phone her at 319-266-5149.
Floorplans and exterior rendering courtesy of Align Architecture.
Exhibit renderings courtesy of Bluewater Studio.
Download the full case statement for the campaign here to learn more!
