Though they’ve just closed for the season, the winter can be one of the busiest times of year for the staff at the Guthrie County Historical Village in Panora. Village Curator Kristine Jorgenson has the details on quite possibly their biggest project, “well we’re working on the Pullman car, that’s always a big project, and it will take many years to complete. Right now we’re in the process of putting a new roof on it, and then we’ll probably start on the exterior, shortly.”
If you don’t know what a Pullman car is, just think of it as kind of a luxury dining car from a hundred years ago, “It’s a 1915 observation and cafe car from the Pullman Company, so it was a really nice, very fancy way to travel, when you had to go by train.”
The restoration of the car is no coincidence, it’s been in the area for a while, “It used to sit up on Panora’s main street, and about ten or fifteen years ago it was used as a restaurant. Within the last ten years, it had been sitting empty, and the family donated it to the museum.”
You can see the progress they’ve made on the Pullman Car, and all of the other new exhibits at the Guthrie County Historical Village when they reopen for next season on May 1st.