The November meeting of the Dallas County Historical Preservation Commission was held in the well-lit showroom of the former automobile dealership on the square in Adel, where a number of pictures and documents from county history are now displayed.
The Dallas County Supervisors approved acquiring the property at 818 Court St. in July for $610,000, and the next few years should see it repurposed along with the soon-to-be-vacant Dallas County Jail at 201 Nile Kinnick Drive N. A new home for the county archives and other artifacts is among the proposed uses.
The first order of business at Saturday’s 9 a.m. meeting was the election of commission officers, with Mark Sampson of Waukee elected the chairperson and Sue Ellen Kennedy of Waukee elected vice chairperson. Sampson and Kennedy were appointed to the commission Oct. 1 by the Dallas County Board of Supervisors and seemed pleased to take the reins.
Other members of the Dallas County Historic Preservation Commission include Secretary Pete Malmberg of Perry and Commissioners Brian Eiteman of Perry, Mark Hanson of Waukee, John Hoy of Redfield, Lorinda Inman of Adel and Donna Julseth of Woodward.
The commissioners discussed a number on ongoing and future projects, including acquiring the historically significant bee-hive kilns of the old Redfield brickworks, developing a nature trail along the west side of the Hanging Rock, preserving the old Minburn High School, later known as Central Dallas High School and preserving the old carriage house, the last original building on the former county poor farm, now known as the Dallas County Human Services Campus.
