St. Historical Society Tables Welk Home Purchase

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP Jul 12, 2013) – The state Historical Society has tabled the purchase of Lawrence Welk’s boyhood home in the south central North Dakota town of Strasburg.
 
     Historical Society Director Merl Paaverud (PAH’-vuhr-ood) says the agency’s board met Friday in Strasburg to decide whether to buy the bandleader’s birthplace.
 
     Paaverud says the board needs more information on the costs to upgrade and maintain the homestead.
 
     The Legislature this year included $100,000 in the Historical Society’s budget for the purchase. 
 
     The idea comes two decades after Congress earmarked $500,000 in federal funds to develop a tourist industry in Strasburg. The money included a museum of German-Russian heritage that was intended to draw visitors to the bandleader’s birthplace.
 
     Lawmakers later withdrew the money when the idea was mocked as a symbol of wasteful spending.

Reported previously…

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP Jun 27, 2013) -The state Historical Society is mulling the purchase of Lawrence Welk’s boyhood home in Strasburg, in south central North Dakota.
 
     The Legislature this year included $100,000 in the Historical Society’s budget for the purchase.
 
     Historical Society Director Merl Paaverud (PAH’-vur-ood) says the agency’s board is meeting July 12 in Strasburg to decide whether to make the purchase. The site also would be used to tout the importance of agriculture and the region’s German-Russian heritage.
 
     The idea comes two decades after Congress earmarked $500,000 in federal funds to develop a tourist industry in Strasburg. The money included a museum of German-Russian heritage that was intended to draw visitors to the bandleader’s birthplace. Lawmakers later withdrew the money when the idea was mocked as a symbol of wasteful spending.