All Aboard for History: Preston Depot Museum and Riverfront Center Celebrates Grand Opening

PRESTON – What began as a dream to add an indoor museum space to Preston’s Historic Campus, is now a reality thanks to the years of work completed by the non-profit organization. And on May 15 and 16, the Preston Historical Society (PHS) plans to show off their accomplishment to the community with the Grand Opening of its Preston Depot Museum and Riverfront Center (DMRC).

Milwaukee Road inspiration

Over the last twenty years, PHS has worked to create a historic campus which sits at the Preston Trailhead, where the Harmony-Preston Valley State Trail comes into town. The campus consists of a 1902 Milwaukee Road Grain Elevator, caboose, boxcar, motor car and trailing car, interpretive display and the O’Hara one-room schoolhouse.  Preston did not have its own museum, and therefore an idea began.

The Preston historic campus features various train related items, including the original Milwaukee Road grain elevator. (Photo by Alison Leathers)

The Milwaukee Road once operated a railway depot in Preston, and after the railway closed down, the original depot building was not preserved and was even burned as a firefighting exercise.

Preston resident and PHS member Jon DeVries read a Milwaukee Road book that explained the Spring Grove, Minn., and Preston depot buildings were identical. That gave him the idea to see if Preston could obtain Spring Grove’s building, which still existed, to add to PHS’s Historic Campus.

But after much consideration and cost analysis, purchasing and moving Spring Grove’s depot building to Preston was not a viable option.

Riverfront Masterplan

The next idea to enhance Preston’s Historic Campus was to create a Riverfront Masterplan. In 2021, funding from the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation and the Preston Area Community Foundation allowed the group to create a plan. Chaired by Preston area residents, Sheila Craig and Barb Mielke, a committee of 11 people was formed, and the engineering firm Widseth was hired to help with the process.

The group hosted two community engagement meetings along with acquiring a survey. This feedback helped shape the master plan.

As Jon DeVries explained, “We had all this technical help from Widseth, but it was our committee and public survey that was telling us what to do.”

The new Preston Depot Museum and Riverfront Center used the foundation and framing from the former Preston Dairy and Farm Building. Included in the photo is the iconic two-headed car, part of the Preston Historical Society’s collection. (Photo by Alison Leathers)

During the first public engagement meeting the late Bob Vogel, the person hired by PHS to conduct a study on the preservation of the historic grain elevator, came up with the idea to turn the former Preston Dairy and Farm Building, which stood across the street from the historic campus, into a depot-looking museum.

From there, Preston resident Kerry Soiney contacted designer Shawn Saltou from Midwest Drafting and Design, who came up with the idea to divide the building into three rooms, similar to the historic train depot. “It was a Eureka moment. Everyone could envision the possibilities and there was consensus,” shared Jon DeVries.

A museum and rental space, named the Preston Depot Museum and Riverfront Center, became part of the Riverfront Masterplan and a new project goal for the Preston Historical Society.

Focus on collaboration  

PHS continued to work with Widseth and engineers to ensure the former Preston Dairy and Farm building could be reworked into a museum. After learning the foundation and framing for the building could be reused while raising the floor to account for flood plain guidelines, the Masterplan Committee “continued to carry the ball,” as Jon DeVries shared.

The City of Preston owns the former Preston Dairy and Farm building and site, so creating a partnership with a lease agreement was the next major step. Steve Hall, PHS member, was integral in working with the city to figure out a way to lease the site. After a year and a half, a lease was finalized that allowed PHS to secure more years on the lease as progress was made on the project.

The portico of the DMRC includes bricks that people, businesses or organizations can customize for a donation. (Photo by Alison Leathers)

All aboard 

The group created a new PHS committee, the DMRC (Depot Museum and Riverfront Center) Committee, in 2024 to work on executing the goal of creating a new museum. The group secured their contractor, Phil Eickhoff Construction, and worked with the City of Preston to secure building permits.

A total of $400,000 was needed to complete the project. The lease agreement with the City of Preston gave PHS two years to raise the first half but due to the hard work of PHS and the generosity of the community, the total $400,000 was raised within six months. Construction began on April 1, 2025, completed by September of the same year, and then they held a soft opening on October 4, 2025.

The approximately 1000 square foot Riverfront Center is a rentable space for meetings, family events, reunions and more. (Photo by Alison Leathers)

The goal of creating a museum and rentable gathering space proved that everyone was all aboard, working together to obtain grants, secure donations, make decisions on building finishes, work with the contractor, manage a brick fundraiser, collaborate with the City and Preston Public Utilities and promote the project.

As PHS President Sheila Craig shared, “Volunteers serve on 14 different committees to develop all aspects of the project from the building to interpretation. When you take a moment to actually think about this, it is awesome, incredible and magnificent.”

‘All aboard’ became the mantra of the DMRC project.

Museum collections committee

During construction, various community members showed their generosity by allowing the PHS collections to be stored in their garages, sheds and storage units. When it was time to take those items out of storage and put them in the new DMRC, the PHS Collections Committee and a consultant through a grant program with the Minnesota State Historical Society, worked together to plan exhibits. This committee, chaired by Joanne Hall, has met for hundreds of hours over the past two years to plan and set up displays, accept donations of items and get the museum ready for the grand opening.

“Actually having a space to reflect Preston history is new territory for us,” Hall stated. The committee and its helpers created unique exhibits, from F&M Community Bank give-away items to Preston Trout Days memorabilia to local military stories. Exhibits will be rotated a couple times a year and Joanne shared, “The artifacts we accept will have a Preston story or a prop can be accepted to add to a story.”

A Trout Days exhibit in the DMRC features t-shirts from former Trout Days events. The mannequin holds the fishing rod of the late angling legend, Mel Haugstad. (Photo by Alison Leathers)

As Joanne Hall shared, “We found items, like the Trout Days Root River Time Trial t-shirt, but we didn’t know the story behind it. Thankfully a local family remembered the event and wrote a short story that we include in the Trout Days exhibit.”

Behind so many artifacts are stories, and the Collections Committee aims to make sure they record those stories along with the preservation of the artifacts.

Time to celebrate

During Preston’s annual Trout Days, the Preston Depot Museum and Riverfront Center will host its grand opening on Friday, May 15, 2026, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with a 9:00 a.m. ribbon cutting. They will also be open on Saturday, May 16, 2026, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The grand opening will feature an opportunity to view the space, treats, grand prize giveaways, merchandise for sale and stories to share.

The DMRC features a replica train ticket window where visitors can get a train ticket “stamped” during their visit. (Photo by Alison Leathers)

Vice President Barb Mielke stated, “The Grand Opening committee, together with all of the committees who helped in getting this project completed, are excited to share this special event. It was a ‘coming together’ and the committees stepped up to fill all the various roles needed throughout the construction, developing the displays and now is the time to share it with you. And we can’t wait!”

More work to be done

Preston Historical Society hopes to add educational programming for the public. “Future programming might include educational displays that could augment school curriculum such as history, biographies of local people and our karst area,” shared Joanne Hall.

Today, PHS is still working on elements of the Riverfront Master Plan, including future plans to landscape around the DMRC with elements to display more outdoor artifacts and have play areas for children.

PHS members are also involved in a project with the University of Minnesota Empowering Small Minnesota Communities to extend the state bike trail from Preston to Carimona and onto Forestville State Park. The aim is to enhance the riverfront in Preston, using the Riverfront Masterplan as a guide, while also getting the bike trail extended to Forestville.

Items from the former Preston-Fountain High School are on display at the DMRC. (Photo by Alison Leathers)

As Jon DeVries shared, “Only a crazy nonprofit who needed this to be done is going to tackle this thing.”

The Preston Historical Society definitely tackled its goal to create a welcoming museum and riverfront center, and is motivated to continue working to enhance Preston’s historic campus.