Editor’s note: The Ouray County Plaindealer started publishing profiles of nonprofits between Thanksgiving and New Year’s in 2020 as a community service.
The purpose of these profiles is to highlight the meaningful work being performed by these organizations and let the community know how they can help them even more, as the holidays approach and we reach the end of 2023. Nonprofit organizations that are based in Ouray County and serve Ouray County are eligible for these profiles.
Year established as a nonprofit: 2022
What does your organization do for Ouray County?
The Ouray County Historical Society preserves the history of Ouray County and operates the Ouray County Museum and the research center in Ouray.
The museum is housed in a three-story, 29-room historic hospital at 420 Sixth Ave. and contains exhibits that depict all aspects of the history of Ouray County. We also have a research center, located at 722 Main St. in Ouray, where anyone can request information about their family members who lived in the Ouray area. It’s open by appointment and includes a large library of more than 10,000 volumes on the southwestern United States, more than 12,000 historical photos and more than 25,000 historical documents. The library also contains information on historical businesses, ranches and mines of the area.
In the summers we offer guided tours of the museum, the historic buildings of Ouray, Cedar Hill Cemetery, Red Mountain mines and railroad sites.
We also host a summer series of lectures, “Evenings of History,” which focuses on both historical and timely topics pertaining to our region. We also offer group tours of the museum for schools and other organizations.
What do you list as your greatest accomplishments in 2023?
OCHS is just completing a large, second-phase State Historic Fund grant for the rehabilitation of the museum building including a new roof, new entry way, restoration of the original 19th century window frames, and a new second-story skylight. We also have received several smaller grants which allowed us to re-roof the historic cabins on the museum grounds and repair their foundations.
What are some goals or projects you have planned for 2024?
In fall 2023, OCHS received a large donation from Montrose archaeologist Steve Baker. Steve has studied archaeological sites in Ouray County for more than 50 years. His donation will allow us to organize this collection of more than 1,000 documents and dozens of books so research on these sites will be readily available to the public. Other projects for 2024 include restoring the historic covered museum entryway and repairs to the foundation and log siding of the McIntyre cabin on the museum grounds.
Tell us how the community can help you do more here in Ouray County.
OCHS operates the Ouray County Museum and the OCHS Research Center. Although we have several salaried employees, OCHS could not function without a cadre of volunteers.
We need volunteers to greet visitors to the museum, work on museum exhibits, scan and organize photo donations, and do research work for the public in our Research Center.
We also have individual, business and family annual memberships available online at ouraycountyhistoricalsociety. org. We also have volunteer applications on the website. For more information, contact info@ouraycountyhistoricalsociety.org or call 970-325-4576.
Thank you to Maria Jones for providing this information.
