Elkton Community Museum

Elkton Community Museum A place dedicated to preserving and passing on the history of the community of Elkton and its residents to the present and future generations.

To visit our museum by appointment, please call one of our Board members:
Linda Kampmann 605-690-6645
Anna Even 605-695-8009
Vikkie Myers 605-651-3893
Bob Kurtz 605-695-1361
Becky Schoeneman 605-542-2991
Amy Jelen 507-829-0008

It was a busy day at the Elkton Community Center and the Elkton museum because Santa Claus was in town and he visited e...
12/14/2025

It was a busy day at the Elkton Community Center and the Elkton museum because Santa Claus was in town and he visited everyone at the community center… And we had the museum open so that people could visit us as well and we had a very fun afternoon… Please open each picture for information about our guest. It was an honor to visit with these guest as well as others… The museum is closed for the winter hours but we are always happy to open by appointment. Just contact any museum member, Anna Even Linda Kampmann , Becky Schoenman ,Bob Kurtz or Amy Jelen… Phone numbers can be found on our museum page.

09/13/2025

A very kind message was sent to the museum from Sue Risch Kurtz following the reunion of the EHS Class of 1970 recently. We share it here as a reminder to all that we are always willing to open the doors of the museum for your class or group to come in for a tour. As Sue states, we have many interesting displays that are sure to spark conversations & memories. Here is her message:

A BIG shout out to the Elkton Museum! Our EHS Class of 1970 visited the museum September 5th.. we truly enjoyed the visit which sparked several questions and conversations about our days in Elkton! Some of us spent grades 1-12 in Elkton starting at the ‘old building’ and some started out at St Mary’s and then EHS. Yes, some stories were told!
The many heartfelt displays at the museum took us back to our great-grandparents time. What a gem to have in town and our appreciation goes out to Anna DeZeeuw Even for her dedicated work at the museum and thank you Bob Kurtz for opening up the museum on a day it is usually closed. We were so enjoying the museum we forgot to get a photo of our group before heading out to the Knotty Pine for dinner!
What a gift to the Elkton Community and thank you again!
Sue Risch Kurtz, EHS Class of 1970

When Dan Mielke agreed to join the Elkton Community Museum board in 2013, he knew the expectation that this was more tha...
08/14/2025

When Dan Mielke agreed to join the Elkton Community Museum board in 2013, he knew the expectation that this was more than a "figurehead" position, and he embraced it wholeheartedly!! In fact, his wife, Marlys, found herself getting pulled in to things more than she probably ever dreamed. When Dan retired from the board in 2023, the other 5 members voted unanimously to refuse to let him retire because we all valued his memories and input so much! He threw himself 100% into sorting & copying photo negatives, organizing & documenting info, and constantly taking opportunities to share the history & anecdotes that come from a lifetime of experience in small-town America.

When news came to us that Dan had passed on from this life, we all had a desire to keep the fire of his interest in all things Elkton alive. We made the decision to name the collection of Elkton memorabilia that is housed in the Cal Steen Reading Room at the museum in his memory. An engraved oak plaque befitting this honor will be permanently displayed on the wall there. We hope that each guest who views it will be warmed by the memory of Dan's smile and ever-present stories of his dear hometown. Pictured are his lovely wife, Marlys, and most-talented son & daughter, Joe and Sara. Also pictured is the plaque. Stop by and see it some time. If you call, we will open the doors of the museum just for you.

Jill ( DeZeeuw) Frerichs and her daughter Jalyn visited the museum this evening… They brought the Class of 2025 composit...
08/01/2025

Jill ( DeZeeuw) Frerichs and her daughter Jalyn visited the museum this evening… They brought the Class of 2025 composite from EHS. The school has donated all the class composites to the Elkton Museum and we are busy working on getting them re-mounted and ready for viewing… We know this will be a popular display once it is completed… 

Curious young visitors at the museum this morning… Noah, and Abbey, Schuurman and Karl and James Gunderson…  they sh...
07/26/2025

Curious young visitors at the museum this morning… Noah, and Abbey, Schuurman and Karl and James Gunderson…  they showed an interest in all coins… Our military section… And our old toy section 

The Elkton Community y Museum is open this morning from 10 AM till probably two…… Always interesting displays to see… An...
07/26/2025

The Elkton Community y Museum is open this morning from 10 AM till probably two…… Always interesting displays to see… And have you noticed how they’ve moved the big old military tank out into the museum courtyard… Stop down and take a walk through days gone by …. Also, known as the “good old days.”. ( ps. It’s air conditioned also )

Yesterday, June 30th, 14 residents of The Neighborhoods and 7 of their support staff, enjoyed a visit to our museum. Bo...
07/01/2025

Yesterday, June 30th, 14 residents of The Neighborhoods and 7 of their support staff, enjoyed a visit to our museum. Bob & Alice Kurtz, Becky & Harold Schoeneman, and Anna Even acted as hosts and tour guides and all seemed to enjoy the event. A highlight was discovering that 2 of the guests have Elkton roots, and it was a delight to bring out the school yearbooks to show their graduation pictures!! You may recognize Jolene Vaske -- Class of 80, and Ellen Kurtz Kasak, Class of 63. What a delight to visit with these folks and hear their memories and thoughts about our exhibits!

We also shared coffee, water, and fresh home-baked chocolate chip cookies with our guests in the adjoining City Council room. It was commented that we have a very wheelchair friendly Community Center and museum.

Thank you to all who came and all who helped. We hope you come again!!

Every once in awhile, we are reminded of pieces of Elkton's history that we are missing at our museum. A recent revamp ...
06/26/2025

Every once in awhile, we are reminded of pieces of Elkton's history that we are missing at our museum. A recent revamp of the Cal Steen Reading Resource Room pointed a "lack" out to us. The photo is our "new" school corner. We have a great collection of Elkton School yearbooks, BUT we are missing some years. Here's the list: 1943, 1944, 1989, and anything previous to 1933, with the exception of 1926. ** Post has been amended to delete the years located. Thank you!!

The school annuals are one of the things our guests enjoy most as they travel through history -- whether it be their own or that of their parents or grandparents. If you have an annual from one of these years and are willing to contribute it to our collection, drop it in the mail to the Elkton Community Museum, PO Box 308, Elkton, SD 57026 -- or if you're local, give one of us board members a call. Thank you, thank you!!

FYI -- We also have scrapbooks of many years of classes and activities compiled by past teachers and those compiled by FHA, along with class meeting notes from some years. Most interesting!! Stop in and visit when you're in town. We are open Saturdays 10 to 2 and other times by request.

The Elkton community Museum is open with their summer hours… Most every Saturday from 10 to 2 … You can also visit by a...
06/16/2025

The Elkton community Museum is open with their summer hours… Most every Saturday from 10 to 2 … You can also visit by appointment with one of the board members… This past Saturday we had several visitors and I will put their names in the comments by their pictures. We thank you all for visiting the museum and we hope you enjoyed your time… We welcome everyone to join us on Saturdays and see the many treasure your little museum holds .

Visitors to the Elkton Community Museum were Denise Houstkooper on the right and she is from Sioux Falls and her siste...
02/25/2025

Visitors to the Elkton Community Museum were Denise Houstkooper on the right and she is from Sioux Falls and her sister Julie Stockart from Washington state. The ladies have ties to Elkton… Their great grandfather was Peter Thomas Kinney, who was born in Elkton in the late 1880’s … during Elkton‘s early development years … Their grandfather was William Eugene Kinney … he was also born in Elkton . Thanks for visiting again and we welcome you anytime .

On behalf of the Elkton Community Museum, I am seeking to clarify something printed in this week's Elkton Record. The ...
12/07/2024

On behalf of the Elkton Community Museum, I am seeking to clarify something printed in this week's Elkton Record. The front page newspaper article erroneously said that the museum is sponsoring an open house for the Community Club Christmas tree competition this coming Thursday, the 12th. As you can see from the attached flyer provided by the Community Club committee, that is definitely NOT the case. Also take special note of the times advertised to view the trees at the center, as this info was in error also. A retraction in the paper would be pointless since the majority of subscribers would receive their paper after the fact. We, the museum board, apologize for any inconvenience this mistake will bring. We are not sure where the wrong info came from, but it most assuredly was not from us. We do thank you for all the support this Community gives our little home-town museum and we wish each of you a blessed Christmas and a very happy & healthy new year!!

Address

105 Elk Street
Elkton, SD
57026

Opening Hours

10am - 2pm

Telephone

+6055422451

Website

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