Fremont County Historical Society

Description of the Organization:  FCHS began in the 1960’s. Its tax status is 501(c) 3.  Its mission is to preserve the past for the future.  The current service area for the Society is primarily Fremont County residents and citizens in the surrounding area.   A new museum is being completed that will change the service area to a national audience. 

The Society has operated a museum for the public since its inception.   Three hundred and sixty three families have given over 3000 items to the collection. Programs to educate the public are regular events. 

FCHS owns and operates  the Gathering Place, a renovated. church building, located on the grounds of the Museum Complex, operating as a performing arts center.  The church building was renamed the Gathering Place.   It opened in 2006 and since then has yearly offered  community theater productions to one-man shows. Additionally , the facility is rented out as a community center.

The Society, the past five years, has worked to change its mission and direction. The Society is transforming itself from a museum telling county stories to one that illustrates the role the County has played in many national stories such as the Lewis and Clark Journey and John Brown moving runaway slaves through the County on their way to freedom.  Additionally, the new museum building  will tell the  90 year history of Iowa’s Championship Rodeo produced in Sidney, Iowa with  one of the few remaining outdoor rodeo grandstands. The project  has been identified by the Iowa  Department of Economic Development as an important economic development venture for the area.