GEM COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY & MUSEUM

Shadow Butte Development Corporation has assisted the Gem County Museum by writing and receiving several grants over the past five years.  Funds for a new roof, carpet, security system and operation and management dollars have been obtained for them through four separate grants in an effort to improve tourism in Gem County.

First opened in 1973, the primary focus of the museum is the interpretation of life in early Emmett.  Beginning with the Native Americans who first inhabited the land, the contributions of the trappers, miners, and settlers who made the irrigation system and the fruit industry possible are chronicled through a large collection of photographs as well as full sized period displays of a general store, a turn-of-the-century parlor, a laundry room, and a combined doctor's and dentist's office.  In addition, there is a special tribute to the men and women who have served in the armed forces; Other museum highlights include period style clothing, a rare hand hewn "laying out board" considered a nicety by families coming west with all their belongings stuffed in a wagon, a "coyote gun" used by area sheepherders, a ships lamp from the Battleship Arizona, and a broom maker used from the 1880's through the Depression.

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