Morton County Museum

10/24/2026

Come haunt the museum next Friday, October 30th!

We will be hosting our Halloween Open House from 5:30pm-8:00pm

Join us for snacks, play games and grab some candy!

Come in costume if you'd like to participate in the Costume Contest!

The contest is open to everyone, and the categories are: Best Boys and Girls Costume, Best Adult Costume and Best Pairs (or Couples) Costume.

We are excited to see how imaginative and creative everyone's costumes are this year!

10/23/2026

Don't forget about tomorrow!

We welcome everyone to join us Tomorrow, October 24th, for an intimate afternoon talk with the Director of the Herzstein Museum.

Learn about the Santa Fe National Historic Trail, Clayton, New Mexico, and the wonderful exhibits at the Herzstein Museum.

Snacks and refreshments will be served at 1:30pm

The program will begin at 2:00pm.

We hope you can join us!

10/16/2026

Join us here on October 24th to learn about the Herzstein Memorial Museum!

The Herzstein Museum is located in Clayton, New Mexico, which has a prominent history as a stop along the Cimarron Cut-off branch of the Santa Fe Trail.

If you've never gotten a chance to experience the Herzstein Museum then we encourage you to join us, next Saturday, to learn about some of its exciting history.

The program will begin at 2pm, on Saturday October 24th.

We look forward to seeing you there!

10/14/2026

We had such a wonderful time last week during the Fall Festival !

The Caramel apple bar was a great success (we only ran out of ingredients twice! 🤣) and we enjoyed seeing and hearing from everyone who came by to eat with us and play games.

The pumpkin tic-tac-toe, pumpkin ring toss and new game of pumpkin Knock-out were a huge hit with the kids. They had a blast playing against each other and competing to win candy and prizes.

So many lovely people stopped by to participate in our "Guess the Candy" contest as well. It was great fun to see people's techniques to count, estimate and predict the number of candies in each jar.

We finished tallying all the guesses and sent out messages to our winners yesterday morning. Be sure to check your messages because we have 4 people who still haven't collected their prizes!

Thanks for having us out and spending time playing games with us!

We are looking forward to next year, have a great day everyone!

10/01/2026

Hi friends,

Join us this Sunday, October 4th, in Goodwell, OK to attend the No Man's Land Historical Society meeting!

We're excited to share a special presentation on Point of Rocks, exploring some of its fascinating history and significance along the Santa Fe Trail.

We hope to see you there!

09/04/2026

08/26/2026

PLEASE READ 🧐

Changes to section 106 regulations will soon lead to the removal of the "protected" status from numerous historic sites across the entire country. This is TRAGIC.

The removal of "protected" from these sites will inevitably lead to the alteration, and/or complete destruction, of countless historic relics that define our past. Mind you this is not just happening in Kansas, but will sweep across the whole country...

Please take a moment to read, and share, if you have your concerns like we do. If you have interest or information you would like to share, please DM us.

We, the American people, will have a brief window to plead our case on why history matters and why it should be preserved and protected rather than disregarded and destroyed.

Please consider, WHO does removing the protected status from historic sites actually benefit?
Not you, not me, not your children or my children or any normal person.

This is a corrupt act that will only benefit giant corporations seeking the cheapest means to make a dollar. The destruction of OUR history is just a stepping stone. This is a slippery slope folks. We have concerns and think you should as well.

Thank you, have a good day

🚨 THE SANTA FE TRAIL NEEDS YOUR VOICE 🚨

The federal rule that has helped protect the Santa Fe Trail for decades is under threat. On July 24, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation voted to advance a sweeping rewrite of the Section 106 regulations — the process that requires federal agencies to consider how pipelines, power lines, highways, and other projects affect historic places before they move forward.

Here's the problem: the new rule would redefine "historic property" to mean built structures only. Wagon ruts, swales, river crossings, campsites, and the trail corridor itself aren't "built structures" so under this rule, they could lose protection altogether. The proposal would also make public comment optional instead of required, and would weaken Tribal consultation along a route that crosses treaty lands sacred to several Nations.

In short: it could become much easier to build through or near a historic Trail segment with little notice and no chance for us to weigh in.

The rule isn't final yet it's still under White House review before it's published for public comment (likely just a 30-day window once it opens). Here's how to get ready NOW:

📍 Think of specific Trail segments you know that could lose protected status under a "built structures only" standard.

📝 If you've been part of a Section 106 review on the Trail before, jot down what happened and why it mattered.

🗣️ We'll need real voices when the comment window opens — start thinking about who in your community would be willing to speak up.

We'll post the direct comment link and deadline the moment the rule is officially published. Follow our page so you don't miss it; when the window opens, we'll only have 30 days to make our voices heard.

The Trail has survived 200 years because people who cared about it showed up when it counted. This is one of those times.

08/18/2026

Well… hello again, Facebook. Remember us? 👋😂

The Chamber ladies may have been on a social media hiatus. We’d like to say we were resting, but realistically… we were still doing Chamber things, we just forgot to tell Facebook about them.

But we’re easing our way back into your newsfeed, and we thought we’d start with something pretty special. ❤️

📖 Introducing the Living Stories Project ⭐

Morton County has a LOT of history—and not all of it lives in official records. It lives in old photo albums, family stories, newspaper clippings, handwritten notes, and the stories Grandpa has told 147 times that somebody really ought to write down.

We want to collect them.

Our hope with the Living Stories Project is to create a new Morton County history book—or something similar—that preserves the stories of the people, families, businesses, farms, ranches, places, and moments that have made Morton County what it is.

And we need your help.

We’re asking people to start digging through those boxes, albums, scrapbooks, and family memories and send us:

📸 Old photographs
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family histories
✍️ Personal stories and memories
🏡 Homestead, farm & ranch histories
🏪 Business stories
🏫 School and community memories
📰 Interesting pieces of Morton County history
❤️ And the everyday stories that might not make a history textbook—but absolutely deserve to be remembered.

You don't have to be a writer. Send us what you have. A polished family history is wonderful, but so is a paragraph, a memory, a scanned photograph with names, or a story you think shouldn't be forgotten.

📧 Send submissions to [email protected]

Right now, our job is to COLLECT, COLLECT, COLLECT. Once we see what comes in, we’ll begin figuring out the best way to organize, preserve, and ultimately print these stories.

History isn’t just something that happened a hundred years ago. We’re living it right now. And someday, someone is going to want to know our stories, too.

So, Morton County… tell us yours. ❤️

08/14/2026

In case you missed out, here are some shots of the Kid's Carnival we held last week during the Morton County Fair!

It's always a pleasure to bring some fun and games out to the Fair, and this year was no exception! It is unbelievably fun to host games and witness the children's excitement when they win prizes.

We are so thankful to be able to run the Carnival every year, and it wouldn't be possible without our amazing volunteers and sponsors.

Without volunteers we can't run games, so a huge shout-out to: Nayeli Alvarado, Beatrice Arreola, Myrna Barnes, Ben Hollingsworth, and Kamryn Jones for sharing their time helping out.

Without sponsors we can't stock prizes for games, so another immense thank you to: Jim & Shawna Tucker, Bill & Myrna Barnes, Chris & Marige Dodds, Isaiah Iman, Delaney, Lydia & Josiah Mayes, The City of Elkhart, Dream First Bank, Elkhart Auto Parts, Elkhart Elementary, Elkhart Lion's Club, Knight's Of Columbus, Mitchell Farms, Pate Agency, State Farm Insurance, TBK Bank, and the Tri-County Electric Co-op for their contributions.

Thank you all for your continued support of the kid's carnival. Have a wonderful day, and we look forward to seeing you all again at next year's County Fair!

-Becky

07/31/2026

Happy Friday from your friends at the Morton County Museum!

We are very excited about seeing everyone at the County Fair next week. Be sure to stop by the museum's roundtop building for the Kiddie Karnival festivities, games, and prizes from 4pm-6pm on Wednesday the 5th and Thursday the 6th of August!

We love getting to do things out and around our community, and always welcome any opportunity to say hi to all of our wonderful neighbors!

Come make some memories with us 🥳