Niwot Artifacts At Longmont Museum   March 2011
BY GENEVIEVE JACOBI
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Nearly five years ago, Anne Dyni noticed that the Longmont Museum and Cultural Center had a special exhibit featuring the city of Mead. Dyni said, “I thought to myself, ‘If Mead could have an exhibit, why couldn’t Niwot?’”

Anne Dyni stands before Niwot's original Atkinson blacksmith doors.  The marks seen faintly in the background are from branding irons.  Photo by Genevieve Jacobi.

Dyni approached the director of the museum at the time, Martha Clevenger, who was extremely receptive to the idea. The initial seed planted by Dyni will finally come to fruition with a showcase of Niwot artifacts at the Longmont Museum from March 26 through May 22.

Dyni is a past president of the Niwot Historical Society and currently sits on its board. The society provided all the items to be displayed in the exhibit, and the museum’s staff reviewed the items before deciding which of the 33 artifacts and 34 photographs would be displayed.

Niwot’s history officially begins in 1875, but most of the items in the exhibit date from the early part of the 20th century through the present.
“The exhibit will emphasize four different areas of Niwot: the railroad, agriculture, businesses and the community and its people,” said Dyni. “It is the first time to have an exhibit like this anywhere which tells Niwot’s history to a larger population in Boulder County.”

Some items to be exhibited are the post boxes from the old Niwot Tribune office, Niwot military band uniforms, agricultural tools, an early doctor’s bag and the original Atkinson Blacksmith doors.

The chemical fire cart, which presently stands in front of the small Firehouse Museum next to the Grange, will also be transported to the Longmont Museum for the exhibit.

A number of entities besides the historical society supported the production of this exhibit, including funds from the Niwot Local Improvement District and the Longmont Museum itself. Curtis Jones’ contribution was to take photographs of contemporary Niwot, while Ed McGill of Canvasback Galleries in Hygiene framed both old and new pictures.

According to Eric Mason, the museum’s curator and acting director, there will be an opening reception the evening before the Niwot exhibition officially opens, on March 25 from 7-9 p.m. The reception is free to the general public. Hors d’oeuvres, punch and wine will be served.

The Niwot Historical Society will hold its annual meeting at the Museum on April 2 at 10 a.m. followed by a courtesy tour of the exhibit, and Dyni will give a lecture about the exhibit the evening of April 25.

The Longmont Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 1-5 p.m. Admission is free, and school groups are encouraged to attend.

Photo by Genevieve Jacobi
Anne Dyni stands before Niwot’s original Atkinson blacksmith doors. The marks seen faintly in the background are from branding irons.