SUTTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY

The Sutton Historical Society is a local community organization dedicated to the reservation of artifacts and information of the culture and history of the Sutton area. The society is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2005. Society members are involved in several programs related to the Sutton area.

SUTTON MUSEUM

The Sutton Museum is located in the historic home of John and Emma Gray, Sutton pioneers. This home was built in 1908 by the Gray’s as their retirement home and was located between their original 1879 home and their business, one of the first lumberyards in the area. The home was restored to its original state by the previous owners who operated a tea house in the building for nine years.

The Historical Society is developing specific specialized areas of interest including veterans’ histories, family histories – especially from the Germans from Russia who settled in the Sutton area in the late 19^th Century and artifacts from many of the founding families of the community. Plans are relocate the museum to a separate building in the near future to make this building a restored home depicting furnishings of approximately 1900.

COUNTRY SCHOOL MUSEUM

The Clay County Fair Board generously donated a one-room country school building to the Sutton Historical Society. The building was originally located near Fairfield, Nebraska as the Wolfe School, District #55. There were about 80 country schools in Clay County serving the education needs of rural school children for most of the first 100 years of the history of the area. The school building will house a museum to preserve and display artifacts and information from this important educational system in our history.

ROUTE 6 VISITOR CENTER

The Sutton Museum houses a growing section associated with the US Route 6 Tourism Association. The Sutton Route 6 Visitor Center is one of several planned along Historic Route 6, the Grand Army of the Republic Highway. U.S. Route 6 was the longest highway in the nation connecting Long Beach, California with the Provincetown, Massachusetts at the end of Cape Cod. A section of the California route has been decommissioned and today’s Route 6 originates in the town of Bishop, California. The Tourism Association is marking the historic route including the California section.

OTHER PROJECTS:

The Sutton Museum has plans to preserve the historic brick factory and blacksmith shop located at the Northeast edge of Sutton. These facilities date from the earliest days of Sutton and were important in the economic development of our community.

The historical society has initiated an Oral History program to record the memories of the citizens of the area. The objective is to not only collect the recollections of our friends and neighbors, but to capture the stories our grandparents told us.

MEMBERSHIP

Individual memberships in the Sutton Historical Society are $25 per year, family memberships are $40. Lifetime memberships are available for $200.

For information about the Sutton Historical Society and related programs contact:

Sutton Historical Society

P. O. Box 92

Sutton, NE 68979

Or,

Jerry Johnson

402-773-0222

jjhnsn@windstream.net