History Center

The Ely Community History Center

History Center - The Ely Historic Preservation Commission and the Ely Community History Society are developing the History Center which is housed in the Ely Community Center. Wall displays throughout the building document the history of Ely and its surrounding rural area, including the unincorporated town of Western, and the Shueyville area.

Archives Room - The archives room has been established on the second floor to house important documents, books, maps, biographies, obituaries, town and family histories, church and cemetery information, scrapbooks and clippings, as well as historic photos, not just from Ely, but from the surrounding rural areas, and including the town of Shueyville and the unincorporated town of Western, Iowa.

HOURS
Archives Room - Set hours for the Archives Room are WEDNESDAYS from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Please call ahead if you plan to visit to make sure we will be there. We are happy to make appointments for time to research in the archives. Please call (319) 848-4963 or (319) 848-4074.

Wall Displays - The wall displays can be viewed Monday thru Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The building is closed Saturday and Sunday, unless special events are scheduled..

Contributions and Donations - We are in the process of applying for grants from public and private foundations, but we also need your contributions for our project to become a reality.

Please consider making a donation by clicking one of the links below and printing out a donation form. Donations are tax-deductible.

	Donation form 1 - This form is in ".pdf format" and can be printed. If you cannot open it, download and install Acrobat Reader (free). Alternately, use the link directly below
	Donation form 2 - This form is in "html format". Print this form by selecting "File" and "Print" from your browser.

Ely School, circa 1930's
The 1923 Ely School, now the Ely Community Center, also houses the History Center and Archives Room. The wall space in rooms and corridors hold displays showcasing Ely's history. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as of September 2006.

A view of the growing number of collections in our Archives Room.

If you have information, photos, documents or stories relevant to Ely history or the surrounding rural community, please contact us for inclusion into our archives. Documents and photos can be copied or scanned via portable computer at your residence if you wish. Help us preserve our history!

About the History Center Project

The Community Center is located in a 1923 brick school building that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in September, 2006 through the efforts of the Ely Historic Preservation Commission.

The building houses all city government activities, a senior dining facility, and, until recently, the town's library. The library has moved to a new building, freeing space in the Center for a history archives room. The wall space in all rooms, and in the commodious and well-lit corridors will be used to create wall displays of historical interest.

It is acknowledged that the greatest factor in the economic development of a community is that it has a sense of place. The proposed history center, so centrally located and accessible, would contribute to that cultural identity, making Ely more attractive to suitable commercial enterprises, which are now needed to balance the tax base for all of the town¹s citizens. Both the surrounding farming neighborhood and the town of Ely were heavily settled by Czech immigrants. The history center affords a centralized place to archive this unique ethnic background.

As the Preservation Commission's main resource is a digitized photo bank of the community's history, it is possible to create displays with photos, graphics, and text to educate visitors as they move through and use the building. In this way a history center is created which does not need staffing per se, has something of a captive audience, and is open not only every weekday, but often in the evenings due to meetings of various civic and non-civic organizations. The archives room will be available for public use in the future.