The Iron County Historical Society's first museum opened in 1984 in the old Fletcher Barger building on the north side of the courthouse square in downtown Ironton. The museum remained there until May 2007 when it moved to its present location within the Arcadia Valley Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center in Arcadia.
Our current hours are: Thursday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 pm. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Iron County is indeed fortunate that so much of its history was well documented and the historical society is fortunate that much of that history has been shared with us. Among the highlights of our collection are the remnants of the Union Garrison Flag that flew over the powder magazine at Fort Davidson (Pilot Knob) on the night of 27 September 1864 before the Union forces blew up the powder magazine after they had made their successful escape from the fort. Adorning our walls are part of the over 100 enlarged photographs that were gathered, annotated,
framed by the Iron County Security Bank and donated by sisters, Fredonia and Lucille Ringo for the 1957 Iron County Centennial Celebration. Lester Keathley donated her extensive rock and mineral collection featuring many samples from deep inside Iron County mines. Charles Ottman donated his extensive collection of Missouri Pacific Railroad Memorabilia and there is an extensive collection of Native American arrow and spear heads that were all found on the Kelton White farm outside of Arcadia. This accounting doesn't even include all the original records that our Society has in its collection including maps, school records, etc. The pages for our
Front Room,
Office Area, Meeting Room & Library, and Granite Room share more details about our collection. Our building itself has it's own history and that history is chronicled on the
Depot History page. A special thank you to Museum Director, Wilma Cofer, for her assistance with these pages. A virtual tour of the museum is available by clicking
here.
To set up a group tour or to ask us any questions regarding the museum please email us at:
museum@ironcountyhistory.org or give us a call at (573) 546-3513. If no one answers, please leave a message and we will return your call.
