Monthly Veterans Coffee
2025-05-06 13:30 - 15:30, 2025-08-05 13:30 - 15:30, 2025-09-02 13:30 - 15:30 (America/Chicago) | Lyon County Historical Society Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall, MN, 56258, United States
Monthly veterans coffees are the 1st Tuesday of the month at the Lyon County Museum, 301 W Lyon St, Marshall. The monthly coffee is open to all veterans. Enjoy coffee, water, juice, and treats while visiting with fellow veterans in the ice cream shop at the museum. For more information, contact the museum at 507-537-6580.

Museum Closed for Memorial Day
2025-05-26 10:00 - 16:00 | Lyon County Historical Society Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall, MN, 56258, United States
The Lyon County Museum is closed on Monday, May 26 for Memorial Day.

Reflections Series: "Bands and Ballrooms of Southern Minnesota" Program
2025-05-27 18:30 - 19:30 | Lyon County Historical Society Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall, MN, 56258, United States
Tom Tourville will present, “Bands and Ballrooms of Southern Minnesota” at the Lyon County Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall on Tuesday, May 27 at 6:30 PM.
Tom Tourville is a native of Fairmont, Minnesota and now resides at Okoboji, Iowa. Having always had a deep interest in music of the ‘60s and beyond, he has turned this fascination into researching and writing 31 books on record collecting, music collectibles, ballrooms, and Midwest music history.
Tom is the co-founder of the Iowa Rock ‘n Roll Music Association. He is also a 2023 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research Award nominee.
Free will donation. Light refreshments will be served.
For more information, contact the Lyon County Museum at 507-537-6580

Genealogy Club Meeting
2025-06-02 13:30 - 15:00 | Lyon County Historical Society Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall, MN, 56258, United States
In April, The Lyon County Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall hosted a Genealogy Club meeting in the Joseph A. Amato Research Center on the main floor of the museum. It was decided to hold a gathering each month on the first Monday. The next meeting is Monday, June 2 at 1:30 pm. The gathering is open to anyone interested in talking about their family history research and those interested in genealogy. Light refreshments will be served. For more information, contact the Lyon County Museum at 507-537-6580.
* No meeting in September as the first Monday of the month is Labor Day. The Lyon County Museum will be closed.

Genealogy Club Workshop
2025-08-04 13:00 - 16:00 | Lyon County Historical Society Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall, MN, 56258, United States
The monthly Genealogy Club at the Lyon County Museum is open to anyone interested in family history. The meetings are informal gatherings to discuss genealogy and learning tips and tricks from others. There are two workshops scheduled for the months of August and October. The speaker for both months is Sarah Lockwood.

August 4 Workshop
1:00 PM to 2:00 PM: Basics of Genealogical Research
2:00 PM to 3:00 PM: Speaker available to attendees
3:00 PM to 4:00 PM: Drilling Down on Census, Military, and Vital Records

About the Workshop:
Basics of Genealogical Research: Genealogy is a fun and important way to preserve who we are, where we’ve been and how we got here. Documentation and verification are the two keys to providing evidence of our family history. This presentation will explore research techniques and resources that can help you dig into your family tree. Overviews of free and subscription websites, helpful documents to chase, and recommended software will be discussed.
Drilling Down on Census, Military and Vital Records: Census records can offer much more than simply who lived where, when. Many census questionnaires asked varying questions from one decade to another that may surprise you. Developing the skill of reading the details of these documents may just help you break through your brick wall. Learn how to search them with a variety of techniques may improve your results. Military records can sometimes be frustrating to uncover, but are worth the effort. Following the military paperwork may help gain valuable details lost in other sources. A number of different websites will be explored to aide your search. Vital records include birth, death and marriage documentation. Many states had different begin by dates for officially collecting births, death and marriages. Learn how to improve your search of the vital record databases.
About the Speaker:
Sarah Lockwood is a proud Minnesotan, with ancestry from both an adopted family and a birth family. Forensic genealogy has been a personal journey for Sarah. As an adoptee, she used what she learned about forensic DNA matching to find her own birth mother and father! She turned her love of genealogy into a professional business. She began AncestryHelp in 2022, as a small business, to help others discover their family history one ancestor at a time and to help fellow family genealogists strengthen their research skills. Her two favorite projects to work on are writing family narratives and teaching research skills. Sarah has earned certificates in Genealogical Research from Boston University, Investigative Genetic Genealogy from Ramapo College, and has completed a ProGen Study Group.

Museum Closed on Labor Day
2025-09-01 10:00 - 16:00 | Lyon County Historical Society Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall, MN, 56258, United States
The Lyon County Museum is closed on Monday, September 1, 2025 for Labor Day.

Reflections Series: "Amelia Earhart & her Cousin..." Program
2025-09-02 18:30 - 20:00 | Lyon County Historical Society Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall, MN, 56258, United States
Amelia Earhart’s 2nd cousin, Nancy Earhart Burt presents a program on the life of Amelia Earhart at the Lyon County Museum, 301 West Lyon Street in Marshall on Tuesday, September 2 at 6:30 PM.

Nancy shares all in an entertaining & educational slideshow of Amelia Earhart’s life, with audio & video clips. There are 2 parts to the program. In the first half, “Amelia” arrives in costume and shares highlights of her amazing life story… growing up in Kansas on the banks of the Missouri River, frequent moves as a child, finding her interest in flying, her momentous flying events, her marriage, and her thoughts on women. She discusses how we all need to find the courage to do what we want in life.

In Part 2, Amelia leaves, and her cousin Nancy steps in to share “The Rest of the Story”, about what went wrong on Amelia’s last flight, theories about what happened to her cousin, Amelia’s marriage, the books she wrote, how she made money for future flights, and so on.
Nancy Earhart Burt is a proud second cousin, 3 times removed to Amelia Earhart. Nancy developed this program on her cousin Amelia in 2023, and has presented many times in Arizona, Idaho, South Dakota, and Minnesota. Nancy has had a life-long interest in women’s issues, as had her cousin Amelia. She has a master’s degree in counseling and has held a variety of “helping” positions including college instructor, non-profit director, corporate trainer and career counselor. Sit back & enjoy a fascinating hour!!

The program is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. Programs at the Lyon County Museum are sponsored by members. For more information, contact the Lyon County Museum at 507-537-6580 or director@lyoncomusem.org

Reflections Series: "Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Little Author on the Prairie" Program
2025-09-16 18:30 - 20:00 | Lyon County Historical Society Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall, MN, 56258, United States
The Lyon County Museum, 301 West Lyon Street in Marshall, is bringing back professional storyteller, Pati Kachel for a program on Laura Ingalls Wilder. The program will be held on Tuesday, September 16 starting at 6:30 PM. Free will donation and light refreshments will be served.
For the past four decades professional storyteller Miss Pati Kachel has performed her original one-woman shows in schools, libraries, churches and senior centers. Based in St. Paul, Pati travels all around the Midwest and beyond to present her heartwarming educational story productions. She specializes in bringing history to life through her costumed characterizations of inspiring women. Pati will be authentically portraying Laura Ingalls Wilder.
The setting of this program is back in 1935, when Wilder had finally become a best-selling children’s book author at the age of 68! Wilder’s “Little House” books were based on her own childhood memories. Her courageous family pioneered their way around Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas, Iowa and South Dakota in a horse-drawn covered wagon. Listeners will hear the true life story of this American settler who experienced much happiness as well as much heartbreak and hardship during her lifetime. Like her loving Pa & Ma, Laura’s strong faith in God provided her with the fortitude needed to persevere through various trials and tribulations. Her strong will forged a hopeful resilience which helped to shape the positive practical wisdom she passed along to her readers in the pages of her books. A tabletop exhibit of vintage American artifacts and family photographs will enhance this learning experience for all ages.
For more information, contact the Lyon County Museum at 507-537-6580 or director@lyoncomuseum.org.

Arts & Living History Festival
2025-09-27 09:00 - 14:00 | Memorial Park, Marshall, MN
Join us at Memorial Park in Marshall Minnesota for another year of the Art’s & Living History Festival at Memorial Park in Marshall Minnesota.
Art VendorsLiving History ReenactorsFood TrucksKid’s Make & TakeLive Music
And More!!!!

For more information, check out the event details on Visit Marshall’s website:
https://visitmarshallmn.com/arts-living-history-festival/

Lyon County Museum Closed
2025-09-27 12:00 - 16:00 | Lyon County Historical Society Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall, MN, 56258, United States
The Lyon County Museum will be closed on Saturday, September 27 for the Arts and Living History Festival at Memorial Park in Marshall

Reflections Series: "Tracing African American Legacies in Minnesota" Program
2025-09-30 18:30 - 20:00 | Lyon County Historical Society Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall, MN, 56258, United States
Mica Anders will present the program, “Tracing African American Legacies in Minnesota” at the Lyon County Museum on Tuesday, September 30 at 6:30 PM.
Join professional genealogist Mica L. Anders to learn more about African American life in Minnesota during the formative years from the 1850s when it was still a territory to early statehood in the through the 1880s. This presentation explores the stories of communities and individuals who contributed to the region’s early development. We’ll explore the multifaceted roles of the early residents as homesteaders, barbers, shop owners, Civil War veterans, and more. Through a blend of personal narratives and historical records, we’ll examine the challenges and triumphs of these early residents.
Mica L. Anders is a professional genealogist specializing in African American genealogy with almost 20 years of experience. As the first-ever history fellow at the Minnesota African American Heritage Museum, she conducted pioneering research on early African American communities, earning the Minnesota Genealogical Society’s Pioneer Award for her work.
With expertise in navigating pre-1870 research challenges, Mica combines rigorous historical research with storytelling to bring ancestors’ stories to life. She also collaborates with museums to highlight underrepresented narratives and is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists.
The program is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. Programs at the Lyon County Museum are sponsored by members. For more information, contact the Lyon County Museum at 507-537-6580

Genealogy Club Workshop
2025-10-06 13:00 - 16:00 | Lyon County Historical Society Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall, MN, 56258, United States
A genealogy workshop is scheduled for Monday, August 4 at the Lyon County Museum.
1:00 PM to 2:00 PM: Introduction to DNA Match Sorting2:00 PM to 3:00 PM: Speaker available to attendees3:00 PM to 4:00 PM: Understanding DNA cMs and How to Determine Relationships

Introduction to DNA Match Sorting

This workshop will give an overview of DNA Match sorting and genetic inheritance when seeking to connect DNA Matches with common ancestors; and the ethics associated with such discoveries.
Understanding DNA cMs and how to determine relationships
This workshop will give an overview of working with DNA Match’s shared cMs to help genealogists discover how DNA Matches may be related. Discussion will focus on how to interpret cMs to indicate how someone could or could not be related, the probabilities, and how their shared DNA could help place them in one’s family tree.

About the Speaker:Sarah Lockwood is a proud Minnesotan, with ancestry from both an adopted family and a birth family. Forensic genealogy has been a personal journey for Sarah. As an adoptee, she used what she learned about forensic DNA matching to find her own birth mother and father! She turned her love of genealogy into a professional business. She began AncestryHelp in 2022, as a small business, to help others discover their family history one ancestor at a time and to help fellow family genealogists strengthen their research skills. Her two favorite projects to work on are writing family narratives and teaching research skills. Sarah has earned certificates in Genealogical Research from Boston University, Investigative Genetic Genealogy from Ramapo College, and has completed a ProGen Study Group.

Monthly Veterans Coffee
2025-10-07 13:30 - 15:30 | Lyon County Historical Society Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall, MN, 56258, United States
Monthly veterans coffees are the 1st Tuesday of the month at the Lyon County Museum, 301 W Lyon St, Marshall. The monthly coffee is open to all veterans. Enjoy coffee, water, juice, and treats while visiting with fellow veterans in the ice cream shop at the museum. For more information, contact the museum at 507-537-6580

Reflections Series: "The War at Home: Minnesota during the Great War, 1914-1920" Program
2025-10-07 18:30 - 19:30 | Lyon County Historical Society Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall, MN, 56258, United States
Greg Gaut will present on his book, “The War at Home: Minnesota during the Great War, 1914-1920” at the Lyon County Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall on Tuesday, October 7 at 6:30 PM.
Americans went to war in 1917 not only against Germany but also against each other. The controversial decision to send an army to France came during a contentious time when farmers and workers challenged the wealthy, African Americans struggled against Jim Crow and lynchings, women campaigned for suffrage, and millions crusaded against alcohol. Greg Gaut will introduce his new book, The War at Home, which focuses on the lives of individual Minnesotans to tell the dramatic story of this period, when the North Star State experienced bitter polarization, nativism, flagrant disregard for democratic norms, and intense, occasionally violent, confrontations. The Minnesota Commission of Public Safety ruled the state with an iron hand during the war. Led by John F. McGee, the commission pursued a “loyalty” campaign against trade unions, the Nonpartisan League, the Socialist Party, and the Industrial Workers of the World. McGee’s most prominent adversary was Charles A. Lindbergh Sr., whom the Nonpartisan League nominated to challenge the governor in the fiercely contested 1918 primary. Although Minnesota’s home front experience was the product of a particular confluence of events and personalities, it raises issues about how democracy can give way to authoritarianism when economic inequality, anti-immigrant nationalism, and racism rule the day.
Greg Gaut is an historian whose career has included two decades of teaching at a liberal arts college and a decade of work as an historic preservation consultant primarily preparing National Register of Historic Places nominations around the state of Minnesota. With his wife and co-author Marsha Neff, he is a frequent contributor to Minnesota History, and two of their articles won the David Gebhard Award for the best article on Minnesota’s built environment. A lover of libraries, he published Laird’s Legacy: A History of the Winona Public Library and Reinventing the People’s Library, a history of St. Paul’s Arlington Hills Public Library which is now the East Side Freedom Library. His article on a World War I espionage case, “Hardware Store Sedition: The Case of Charles W. Anding,” won the Solon J. Buck Award for the best article in Minnesota History for 2020. He holds a doctorate in Modern European and Russian history from the University of Minnesota.
The program is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. Programs at the Lyon County Museum are sponsored by members. For more information, contact the Lyon County Museum at 507-537-6580 or director@lyoncomuseum.org

Reflections Series: "The (Not So) Invisible Empire: The KKK in Southwest Minnesota in the 1920s" Program
2025-10-14 18:30 - 19:30 | Lyon County Historical Society Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall, MN, 56258, United States
Anita Talsma Gaul will present on, “The (Not So) Invisible Empire: The KKK in Southwest Minnesota in the 1920s” at the Lyon County Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall on Tuesday, October 14 at 6:30 PM.
The 1920s was a period of rapid change, causing many Americans to feel a sense of nostalgia and fear – nostalgia for an idealized, simpler past and fear that America was in a state of moral decline. This prompted the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, particularly in the Upper Midwest. Klan activity in Southwest Minnesota began in 1922, peaked in 1924, and virtually disappeared by 1927. Dozens of cross burnings occurred, but there were also Klan rallies, parades, picnics, and meetings.
What attracted rural Minnesotans to this organization? How and why did it become popular in this area? And what accounts for its sudden demise? The brief but intense presence of the KKK in Southwest Minnesota is a hidden chapter in the region’s history and one that merits closer scrutiny.
Anita Talsma Gaul is a History Instructor at Minnesota West Community & Technical College in Worthington, MN. She is the author of several local history publications including The Women of Southwest Minnesota and the Great War (published by the Society for Local & Regional History) and Homely Girls and Pretty Babies: A History of the Murray County Fair (published by the Murray County Agricultural Society). She is also the author of seven MNopedia articles, a digital encyclopedia published by the Minnesota Historical Society.
The program is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. Programs at the Lyon County Museum are sponsored by members. For more information, contact the Lyon County Museum at 507-537-6580 or director@lyoncomuseum.org

Halloween Family Fun Day at the Museum
2025-10-25 12:00 - 16:00 | Lyon County Historical Society Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall, MN, 56258, United States
Halloween Family Fun Day at the Museum is Saturday, October 25 from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM at the Lyon County Museum, 301 W Lyon St, Marshall. Free event. All kids dressed in costume will receive a treat bag. Activities include: Pumpkin Scavenger Hunt, Crafts, Coloring Activities, and $2.00 Orange or Root Beer Floats in the museum’s ice cream shop. For more information: 507-537-6580

Reflections Series: American Immigration, the Saga of Ellis Island" Program
2025-10-27 18:30 - 19:30 | Lyon County Historical Society Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall, MN, 56258, United States
Frank Sachs will present “American Immigration, The Saga of Ellis Island” at the Lyon County Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall on Monday, October 27 at 6:30 PM.

Where we have come from and the story of America immigration. Because the focus has largely been on the story of Western European immigration, prior to the 21st Century it has often focused on the unique role Ellis Island and so will we, as we discuss how it served as Gateway to America during the latter half of 19th and early 20th Century during the heights of pre Great Depression emigration when a record number of immigrants came to the United States.

Frank Sachs is a retired twin cities educator with a BS in American History and a MS in Guidance and Counseling. He has taught in both public and private schools for 40 plus years. The last 37 of those years were at The Blake School in Minneapolis where he was a senior administrator and taught in the Social Studies department. During the majority of those years Frank taught primarily AP US Government and Politics, US Constitutional Law and American History while serving as the Director of College Counseling.

The program is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. Programs at the Lyon County Museum are sponsored by members. For more information, contact the Lyon County Museum at 507-537-6580

Genealogy Club Meeting at the Lyon County Museum
2025-11-03 13:30 - 15:30, 2025-12-01 13:30 - 15:30 | Lyon County Historical Society Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall, MN, 56258, United States
The Lyon County Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall is hosting a Genealogy Club meeting in the Joseph A. Amato Research Center on the main floor of the Lyon County Museum. The meetings are held on the first Monday of the month. The gathering is open to anyone interested in talking about their family history research and those interested in genealogy. Attendees will also receive an introduction to resources available at the Lyon County Museum. Light refreshments will be served. For more information, contact the Lyon County Museum at 507-537-6580.

Veterans Coffee at the Lyon County Museum
2025-11-04 13:30 - 15:30 | Lyon County Historical Society Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall, MN, 56258, United States
The monthly veterans coffee is the first Tuesday of the month and is open to all veterans. Enjoy coffee, water, juice, and treats while visiting with fellow veterans in the ice cream shop at the museum. For more information, contact the Lyon County Museum at 507-537-6580.

Museum Closed on Veterans Day
2025-11-11 10:00 - 16:00 | Lyon County Historical Society Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall, MN, 56258, United States
The Lyon County Museum will be closed on Tuesday, November 11 for Veterans Day

Christmas, Cocktails & Charcuterie
2025-11-21 19:00 - 21:00 | Lyon County Historical Society Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall, MN, 56258, United States
Kick off the holiday season in style at our Christmas, Cocktails & Charcuterie event on Thursday, November 21st from 7–9 PM at the Lyon County Museum in Marshall, MN!
Sip on seasonal cocktails, savor delicious charcuterie bites, and be the very first to stroll through our enchanting Christmas Tree Walk — then cast your vote (and your donation!) for your favorite tree.
Tickets: $25 **COMING SOON!**Limited tickets will be available — at the Lyon County Museum or call 507-537-6580!
Holiday attire encouraged — bring your festive flair!Kick off the season with sparkle, sips, and the spirit of giving at this unforgettable evening.

The 13th Annual Indoor Christmas Tree Walk
2025-11-22 11:00 - 2025-12-31 16:00 | Lyon County Historical Society Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall, MN, 56258, United States
The 13th Annual Indoor Christmas Tree Walk opens at the Lyon County Museum, 301 W Lyon St, Marshall on Saturday, November 22. The trees and museum will stay decorated through December 31. View decorated trees by area families, businesses, non-profit organizations, and service organizations.
To vote for your favorite(s), place money in a box located by each tree. The top 3 organizations/businesses with the most money in their boxes will win the 2025 tree walk. There will be an online option to vote on the museum’s website. All proceeds from the boxes will go to benefit the Lyon County Historical Society’s mission of preserving and presenting Lyon County history. 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes will be awarded to the top 3 trees. 1st prize is $150 in Marshall Chamber Dollars 2nd prize is $100 in Marshall Chamber Dollars 3rd prize is $50 in Marshall Chamber Dollars.
The museum will have extended hours during this time. The museum hours for November 22-December 31 are Monday-Thursday: 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM; Friday: 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM; Saturday: 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM; Closed on Sundays. Check the Lyon County Museum’s website: www.lyoncomuseum.org for closed holidays.
For more information, contact the Lyon County Museum at 507-537-6580.

Lyon County Museum Closed
2025-11-26 10:00 - 16:00, 2025-11-27 10:00 - 16:00 | Lyon County Historical Society Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall, MN, 56258, United States
The Lyon County Museum is closed on Wednesday, November 26 and Thursday, November 27 for Thanksgiving.

Veterans Coffee at the Lyon County Museum
2025-12-02 13:30 - 15:30 | Lyon County Historical Society Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall, MN, 56258, United States
The monthly veterans coffee is the first Tuesday of the month and is open to all veterans. Enjoy coffee, water, juice, and treats while visiting with fellow veterans in the ice cream shop at the museum. For more information, contact the Lyon County Museum at 507-537-6580

Holiday Home Tour
2025-12-07 13:00 - 16:00 | Lyon County Historical Society Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall, MN, 56258, United States
The Holiday Home Tour is a fundraiser for the Lyon County Historical Society Museum and is on Sunday, December 7, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Tickets are $20/each and are only available at the Lyon County Museum. The ticket book includes a description of each home along with a map. The Lyon County Museum, 301 W Lyon St, Marshall will be open from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM on the day of the tour for cookies and refreshments. The museum is decked out for the holidays. Check out the annual Christmas Tree Walk and Heritage Room holiday exhibit.
We thank the homeowners who make this event possible:
– Joyce DeCramer
– Kevin and Nicole DeBoer
– Jim and Ann Carrow
– Victoria Carlson and Berkeley Lewis
All of the homes are located in Marshall city limits.
For more information, please contact Jennifer at the Lyon County Museum by calling 507-537-6580

Holiday Fun Day at the Museum
2025-12-13 12:00 - 16:00 | Lyon County Historical Society Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall, MN, 56258, United States
Holiday Fun Day at the Lyon County Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall is on Saturday, December 13. The event runs from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM.
Join us for holiday treats, beverages, music, and coloring/craft activities. Special guests, Santa and Mrs. Claus will be at the museum from 1:00 to 2:00 PM that day. Free event. There will be specials on Gift Shop merchandise that day for your holiday shopping needs.
For more information call the Lyon County Museum at 507-537-6580
