Minutes of The Windsor-Severance Historical Society
June 24, 2024
The Windsor-Severance Historical Society met in person on Monday, June 24, at 10:00 a.m. at the Windsor History Museum Train Depot. In attendance were Kristie Melendez, Dan Meyers, Gary Martin, Marcella Johnson, Laura Browarny, Sue Buxman, Penny Fahey, and Judy Firestien. Penny is a new person who has joined the organization. She is also a new volunteer with the Museum. She and her husband have lived in Windsor a couple of years and she would like to learn more about the community and get involved.
Call to Order – Kristie Melendez called the meeting to order at 10:03 a.m. Monthly Reports/Approvals
May Minutes – The Minutes from the previous meeting on May 20th, 2024 were reviewed and approved as presented.
Treasurer’s Report – Kristie reported from the May bank statement that the balance in checking was $6,911.88. The balance in savings was $14,722.76. The current balance for the CD was around $20,916.40. Marcella moved and Gary seconded that the CD be extended when it comes up for renewal in July. Motion carried.
Membership Drive Update – Kristie reported the membership information had been sent out; 627 postcards had been sent out which included the Windsor Chamber mailing list and the 30- 40 members on the ongoing previous member list and 40 letters had been sent to members with return envelopes. Severance Chamber had not provided a mailing list. Mailing and printing costs totaled $954.42. Five individuals recently joined online and three books have been sold along with a couple of calendars. Kristie had included, in addition to a membership, that a person could purchase one of the books or calendars. Including costs of postage for books and calendars to the mailing, the total cost for the membership drive is $1,010.33. Total received so far for the membership drive is $1,419.72. Kristie will take that and the royalty payment from PDC Energy of $94.72 to the bank. This has so far covered the costs for mailing and more renewals and memberships should be expected. The organization might want to think about having meetings at different times, although the current format seems to be working.
Sue would like to have Museum staff begin to move the file cabinet with WSHS archives to Museum storage. Katherine is using the old newspapers that Kristie recently brought to the Museum.
Old Business
Farm Tour/Home School Farm Day 2024 – The Home School Farm Day has been set for Thursday, October 10th. Dan mentioned he will not be able to attend due to a Severance Town Council commitment, but he is still willing to help with preparations and Gary has agreed to help out that day. Dan will still try to contact the FFA, through Severance High School to see if they can help. Laura will run the “shuttle van” between Firestien Farm and Tigges Farm. The information has now been included in the Town of Windsor Activity Guide. Dan will give the
paperwork to Gary so he can ask for support from the Severance Board. Tigges Farm has agreed to participate.
Facebook Login – Tammy and Sue are still having problems getting into the WSHS Facebook account. Larua will try to help.
Picture and Promo Placement – The picture and stand with the brochures is now at the Train Depot for the Summer. The Museum is averaging about 150 people per weekend.
Windsor News – Laura shared the landscape construction at Halfway Homestead/Jacoby Farm is essentially done; they are doing their final walk through. The Construction team is staying on to work on the restoration of the Dickey Farmhouse and Eaton house. Halfway House will be worked on later. They did receive a $250,000 grant from the State to support
Dickey House. The State Historical Rep will guide them through this historic preservation project. The Poudre Heritage Alliance is thinking about moving their offices to the Eaton House. A public art piece will also be installed at Halfway Homestead by the end of the summer (paid for through the Arts Commission); a to scale stage coach time machine interactive structure. More sculptures are going in at Kyger open space (shade sculptures) and one was installed in front of the Fire Station. There is also a mural project being done by the Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed with support from Windsor Art Commission near the new Eastman Park area. The program is called the Poudre River Mural project and they place murals along the Poudre River. There is also a grant program in conjunction with the WDDA to help local business owners to create a mural on their building they can apply to the Arts Commission for support and if located downtown can also apply to the WWDA. The bronze sculptures will be getting their first cleaning and maintenance. This usually occurs once a year every other year which is paid for through the Town.
Severance News – Dan mentioned they have a new Council Member. Dan attended the CML meeting this past week. He attended a session on heritage centers and how to develop one and learned about funds that are available through History Colorado and other groups. He would like to see old town hall in Severance preserved as historic and used as such. It was a good seminar and he would like to share more info later with the WSHS.
Board Communications – Kristie recapped the things coming up are the Farm Tour in October and Legends and Lessons in early November (maybe November 10th). Plans should be made for a calendar or something special in 2026. Rachel and Kristie will meet again to talk about book ideas (one idea is to cover women in history) and also a next edition of the Tailholt book. Laura mentioned Sam has expressed an interest in getting more involved with WSHS and historic preservation. There are many ideas for future projects such as a special ornament, a cookbook, a calendar, or a magazine/booklet item. Laura mentioned the national endeavor for the 2026 celebration. She is putting together a local planning commission for Windsor and would welcome a WSHS representative on the Commission.
Next Meeting – The next meeting will be on July 22nd at the Halfway Homestead (33327 County Road 15). The meeting was adjourned at 10:55 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Judy Firestien, Secretary