1883 Courthouse Christmas Open House Dec 15

(CSi)  1883 Stutsman County Courthouse, Site Supervisor, Steven Reidburn says, the community will have another opportunity to visit the Christmas Open House, on December 15, from 1-p.m., to 4-p.m.

File Photos from 2018 Open House

On Thursday’s Wayne Byers Show on CSi Cable 2, Steve said, 17 Christmas trees have been provided courtesy of sponsors, and decorated by volunteers, adding volunteers have worked about 100 hours on the project in November this year.  He added that each tree will have a tag indicating the name of the sponsor.

He added that trees will have a theme and visitors can vote on their favorite, and pay $1 per ballot, with proceeds going to the  1883 Stutsman County Courthouse supporting future programming and planning.

New this year is Santa’s Café, and workshop, at the main hallway.

Steve also shared progress regarding the new exhibit which is expected to be open on Memorial Day 2020 with a dedication and Open House.

At a recent Jamestown Tourism, Grant/Executive Board meeting, the 1883 Stutsman County Courthouse – Citizenship Exhibit was represented by Robert Hanna, State Historical Society, Site Manager, from Bismarck.

He requested $26,795 for the Courthouse Citizenship Exhibit, to help make the 1883 Courthouse the first museum in the United States specifically addressing the exercise of citizenship.  Specified rooms in the courthouse will contain various aspects of citizenship, along with artifacts of such items as office equipment and other historic artifacts representing the time period  1880-1950.  Each courthouse room will have artifacts, many will be interactive for visitors, to have a hands-on experience.

The Tourism Board has approved, $24,115.  Steve Reidburn pointed out that the additional funding plus funds from the State Historical Society will allow all rooms to have exhibits available for the opening, rather than just one room at a time

He says schools will be able to utilize the courthouse for future classes and lessons. He says there will also be an exhibit up during the open house with artwork based on women’s suffrage, in cooperation with University of Jamestown students, to be set up in the Jurors Room.

Visit the 1883 Stutsman County Historic Courthouse Facebook page.

He added that the 1883 Courthouse has the Escape Room open during the winter months.

Those wishing to participate should make reservations no more than two weeks ahead of the requested date.