Seasonal Resident Lunn Named to Vacant Position Museum Board Directors
Multi-generational Lake City seasonal resident Joe Harris Lunn, Professor Emeritus in African and Modern European History from the University of Michigan-Dearborn, has been appointed to a vacant position on the seven member board of Hinsdale County Historical Society.Lunn and his wife, Marcia Richmond, annually spend six months each summer at the family’s Wade’s Addition residence. In his letter of application, he stated that if appointed to the vacant directorship, he would attend the society’s monthly winter meetings online.Dr. Lunn was one of three applicants for the board position vacated in August this year by Arlene Gonzales. In addition to the newly-appointed director, other directors of Hinsdale County Historical Society are Grant Houston, Glenn Heumann, Mette Flynt, Peggy Bales, Jesse Kendall, and Mike Harrington.In addition to his university history background, Lunn has an interesting local background dating to his grandparents, Oklahoma residents Harris and Lydia Lunn, who acquired property adjacent to Wade’s Gulch to the south of Lake City in upper Wade’s Addition in 1958. Multiple generations of the Lunn family have spent time in Lake City in the intervening decades, including Joe Lunn and his brother, Bill Lunn, and succeeding generations of their families.In his letter of application, Lunn stated he has experience writing grant funding applications and cited ‘extensive experience’ as an oral historian conducting interviews. He noted that he and his wife have already been drafted by Mette Flynt to conduct taped interviews of Lake City area residents, which will in turn be available as archival transcripts.The Lunns have already compiled a list of Lake City residents both past and present who are potential for the museum’s ongoing oral history program.The vote to appoint Joe Lunn as newest board member came at the historical society’s Tuesday, September 23, meeting, prior to which board president Grant Houston read a portion of the historical society’s mission statement. The statement reads in part the goal of the society to “collect printed material, manuscript material and museum material, as well as material objects illustrative of life conditions, events and activities of the past or of the present.”Elsewhere in the historical society’s September 23 meeting, the historical society has awarded a $6,000 contract to Carson Custom Carpentry for construction of a secured cabinet to display a rare collection of minerals which is being donated by Harvey DuChene. The wall-mounted and lighted cabinet — which is also being paid for by DuChene will consist of adjustable shelves in a 75”-tall, 62”-wide wood display cabinet, with lighted minerals to be displayed through plexiglass in three hinged and lockable doors.Mike Carson of Carson Cabinetry will begin work on the display case this fall and complete the work by year’s end, after which DuChene will prepare the new geologic display in time for museum summer opening in 2026.Museum Directors are also looking ahead to the completion of the multi-year restoration of narrow gauge Denver & Rio Grande Western Car 211, the combined passenger and freight car which was used on the railroad line between Sapinero and Lake from approximately 1910 until the local branch railroad ended in 1933.Ongoing restoration work by skilled craftsmen at Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad are nearing completion on the restoration and after several trial practice runs on the Durango-Silverton line, the car is tentatively planned for return delivery back to Lake City in May or June next year.Most recent details of the restoration are lettering of the Denver & Rio Grande Western wording and logo — museum directors concluding to be historically accurate with painted white lettering — on the car’s exterior. Also complete is replication of a small toilet cubicle with door, water cooler, and newly upholstered passenger seats. Recent renovation photos from Hinsdale County Museum’s Car 211 restoration in Durango, Colorado, include newly upholstered passenger seats, top photos, and — below, Denver & Rio Grade’s trademark apple green paint scheme in Car 211’s refurbished freight compartment Upholstered in dark crimson red, the backs of each seat are designed to be rotated, allowing passengers to face forward whether heading up valley to Lake City or conversely, down valley on the return trip to Sapinero.Car 211 was in heavily deteriorated condition when Hinsdale Museum purchased the relic from Don Shank, requisite restoration work including replication of the cars front and back platforms, and framing and roof repairs which included installation of a custom sheet metal roof.A final element of the restoration are the car’s wheel or “trucks” which when acquired from Shanks consisted of dimensionally inappropriate freight trucks. Through the efforts of Durango & Silverton Railroad, authentic narrow gauge passenger trucks for the railroad car are being acquired from Knotts Berry Farm in California.At the September 23 museum meeting, society director Mike Harrington gave a report on yet another phase of the train car restoration. Harrington credits summer resident Rene Faires for his precision planning for concrete footings (WORLD, September 19) which will support a gabled, open-sided shed which will protect not only Car 211 after its arrival next spring, but also the museum’s narrow gauge Caboose No. 0588 on railroad tracks which are located on the south side of the museum’s Silver Street property.Fundraising for the gabled shed is ongoing andHinsdale Museum,continued from page 1Recent renovation photos from Hinsdale County Museum’s Car 211 restoration in Durango, Colorado, include newly upholstered passenger seats, top photos, and — below, Denver & Rio Grade’s trademark apple green paint scheme in Car 211’s refurbished freight compartment.will consist of the concrete pylons now in place and an as-yet-to-be constructed heavy timbered framework with metal bracing which will protect both of the historic rail cars. In order to protect both railroad cars on a single line of track, the covering shed’s dimensions will be 90’-long by 21’-wide, according to Harrington.For the 2026 museum season, it is envisioned that both Caboose 0588 and Car 211 will be open to the public via stairs and a railed decking between the railroad cars which will allow museum visitors to exit after touring both the caboose and combined freight/passenger
