04-08-2013 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, March 25, 2013 7:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 2 of 10 (3. WESTONKA HISTORY MUSEUM, Continued) One of the products the Westonka Historical Society created was a book funded by state legacy funding which came about as a result of interviewing people who attended the grade school and graduated from Mound Consolidated High School. The school building for School District 91 is still located at the corner of Watertown Road and Stubbs Bay Road. It was once a grade school and housed grades one through eight. The building is also depicted on the City’s plat map. Before it was Stubbs Bay School, it was called Bederwood. The reason it was called Bederwood is that this community at one time was a very productive truck farming area and one of the crops that was grown was a favorite strawberry called the Bederwood. Bederwood was the name of the community until the Luce Line Railroad came through in 1913. Myers stated the Westonka Historical Society has been invited to move into the Mound City Hall building. The Mound City Staff is considering relocating to the fire department building where the police department used to be. This is possible due to the City having reduced staff enough to allow them to move. The Westonka Historical Society is considering having a separate room for a life-time Tonka toy collection and a life-time Andrews Sisters collection. There will also be a community room to highlight the history of Navarre, Orono, Spring Park, Mound, Minnetrista, and Minnetonka Beach. Myers stated part of the way each city will be highlighted will be by displaying memorabilia and showing videos on each of the cities. Myers stated she has one of the videos available tonight to show the Council highlighting the Big Island Amusement Park, which dates back to 1906. One of the most popular tourist attractions in the history of Lake Minnetonka was the Big Island Park. Myers played the video for the City Council. Myers stated the majority of the photos contained in the video are from the Historical Society’s postcard collection, which was donated by the Williams family. Myers stated her purpose in coming tonight was to let the Council know about the museum and the historical society. Myers encouraged the City to think about how they can help preserve the history of the community and to visit their website. Levang asked if the museum will be free to patrons. Myers stated if they are able to find some way to fund it, they would offer free admission. The prior two store fronts have had free admission. Printup asked when they are planning on moving into the facility. Myers indicated they will be voting on the lease in the middle of April and that they would like to have an open house in May or June. McMillan asked how the fundraiser turned out last week at the Gillepsie Center. Meyers indicated they had 120 paid tickets sold, 49 donations of silent auction items, and over 500 raffle tickets sold. Myers stated they also received a number of good comments from the people who attended the fundraiser. The Westonka Historical Society would like to think of it as the first of a series of annual fundraisers. Item #03 - CC Agenda - 04/08/2013 Approval of Council Minutes 03/25/2013 [Page 2 of 10]