In October of 1980, a group of local residents met to form the Montrose Area Historical Association to research and preserve Montrose’s past for generations to come. The Slade School building seen in this photo is one of three country schools that were moved to Hickory Street in 1948 to house the increased number of area students.
The Historical Association acquired the building from the school district and then the work began. A group of dedicated volunteers spent many hours in renovating the building and in October of 1983, the Montrose Historical Museum opened in the old school. Throughout the following years, there were many exhibits with quilts, antique clothing, Indian memorabilia, and military uniforms. The most popular were always the Christmas toy shows that brought back fond memories for many visitors of that special doll or toy train.
In 1989 Wyman Jennings approached the owners of 144 E. Hickory Street (Clarke Williams) about turning over the keys to this building to the Historical Association.
In 1990, the Montrose Historical Museum moved next door into the new location and became known as the Montrose Historical & Telephone Pioneer Museum.
The museum expanded to house the Jennings collection and provided the space to house more phones and objects from Montrose’s past. We even were host to the Blueberry Festival Committee office in our annex for a while (they have moved on to a new building a few years ago). In 2005, the Museum celebrated its 25th anniversary of being open to the public, remaining free thanks to the support of the Jennings Foundation and our dedicated volunteers.