By ALIN HETT
Hays Post
The public will get a first look inside the newly renovated Ellis County Heritage Center at St. John's Place during an open house this Sunday in Victoria.
Amanda Rupp, director of the Ellis County Historical Society, said the Heritage Center offers visitors a preview of museum galleries, Volga German exhibits and the transformation of a building that sat vacant for more than a decade.
The Ellis County Historical Society will host the open house at the Heritage Center, 701 Seventh St., during Herzogfest and the Volga German Sesquicentennial celebration.
"It's completely refurbished back to its days of glory," Rupp said. "If you came to the open house when we had it, when it was desolate and had been empty for 11 years, it is completely refurbished."
Rupp said visitors will see the restored barrel-vaulted ceilings, a gift shop, the Discovery Center and preview displays highlighting future museum galleries.
The Heritage Center occupies one half of the former St. John's Nursing Home, while the other half has been converted into apartments through a partnership with the Victoria Community Coalition.
Rupp said saving the historic building was made possible through collaboration among several organizations and has become an example for communities across Kansas.
"Being able to restore it in phases is huge for a community that size," Rupp said. "To have something new, not only for housing but for tourism and community involvement, speaks volumes."
One of the Heritage Center's featured exhibits highlights the Volga German villages founded throughout Ellis County. Rupp said preserving that history remains vital because the descendants of those immigrants continue to shape the region today.
"Hays would not have been as big as it got without the influx of these immigrants," Rupp said. "Those generations of immigrants stayed around. They flourished here, they built neighboring communities and they're still here generations later."
The museum also features family heritage plaques recognizing descendants of Volga German settlers. Families worked with the historical society to create displays that include family trees, photographs and stories spanning multiple generations.
"We wanted people to be able to share their story," Rupp said. "The museum isn't just about the famous figures that were in our community."
The open house will be Sunday from 10 a.m. to noon with pastries and refreshments, and again from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. following a special Mass honoring the ancestors. The Heritage Center also will be open Saturday during Herzogfest, although refreshments will only be available Sunday, Rupp said.