CHASKA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Exhibits | Wish List | Holiday House Tour

Chaska History Center

The Chaska Historical Society was officially organized in 1980 by a group of people who recognized the need to record and preserve the history of Chaska. The Chaska society, a chapter of the Carver County Historical Society, is located in the Chaska History Center at 112 West Fourth Street in a newly restored 1890 Livery Stable.  The organization is led by a nine member elected Board of Directors which meets quarterly. The annual meeting of the membership is held each fall usually in November.

The dues of the Chaska society also cover membership in the county historical society. Members have the opportunity to share in many county and local historical programs and events.

The Chaska History Center has become a resource center for researching the history of Chaska and its people through exhibits, photographs, letters, diaries, maps, artifacts, documents and copies of the Chaska Herald newspaper. 

Current activities:
- Tours available for student groups
- Creation of a digital cataloging system
- Research on the third volume of the Chaska history book, Chaska, A Minnesota River City
- Reprinting (hopefully in 2009) of the first two out of print volumns of the Chaska History Book, Chaska, A Minnesota River City,
- Developing exhibits and displays. Current Display runs through mid September - "Two Faiths, 150 Years: the Moravian and Catholic Churches in Chaska"
- Staffing of the History Center by volunteers Tuesday through Friday each week
- Cataloging/preserving and adding to our archives 10,000+ negatives/photos from the 1970's - 1980's from the Chaska Herald
- Annual Holiday House Tour December 2008 (watch for more details)
- Annual Meeting November 2008

Available at the Chaska History Center:

• Extensive photograph collection, some of which was donated by the Werner Studio family, which depicts Chaska people, industry, schools, civic organizations, military personnel, street scenes, city and county government, cultural activities, sports, religious life and community celebrations.
• Volumes I and II of Chaska, A Minnesota River City
• Copies of the Herald newspaper from 1862 to the present. Link to the online index of the newspapers maintained by the Carver County Historical Society in Waconia
• Copies of the Carver County Sun newspapers 1969-1973
• Insurance maps which detail locations of downtown businesses around the turn of the century
• Tours available for student groups
• The story of the impacts of the Minnesota River flooding on Chaska from 1881 to the present as told through a series of scrapbooks
• A collection of Indian artifacts
• Chaska historian James Faber's newspaper series on "The Old Home Town" and "View From A Park Bench"; Faber collection of Chaska memorabilia and historical papers
• Extensive research on Chaska families and their origins from 1864 to 1960 (Edward Glatzel papers)
• Video tapes of Chaska happenings circa 1945, and oral interviews with local citizens describing life in Chaska from early 1900 through the development of Jonathan
• Works in progress include the compilation of the history of the Chaska Fire Department and of the Jonathan development in Chaska in scrapbook form
• Listing of Chaska cemeteries and their occupants

Chaska Historical Society continues to honor the rich heritage of the Chaska community.

For more information contact the Chaska Historical Society at 112 West Fourth Street, Chaska, Minnesota 55318

Phone (952) 448-6077
Hours 1 - 4:30 PM     Tuesday - Friday

e-mail: historical@chaskahistory.org

fax: (952) 448-4261

web site: www.chaskahistory.org