Welcome to the Old Courthouse Museum and Jail
The MUSEUM features the original 2nd floor courtroom, six rooms of local history, & the old jail next door.
The Courtroom on the second floor recalls the feeling of a hundred years ago better than any other room in the building. It was used continuously for 110 years for community activities, teachers' symposia, and, of course, as the center of justice. Jury trials were held here from 1874 until 1984.
The southeast wall of the Center Hall is devoted to the building itself, which is the subject of the numerous drawings, photographs, paintings and three-dimensional works of art displayed. The hall also has a farming display, copies of very old maps of the region, and an exhibit honoring county law enforcement.
Room One displays are devoted: to the City of Durand's founder, Miles Durand Prindle; to one of America's greatest female educators, Helen Parkhurst; to the bridges crossing the Chippewa River at Durand; and to a local artist, C. H. Gleason. The museum has nine paintings by Gleason, seven oils and two watercolors. At least two of the paintings are scenes believed to be of the Durand area. The oldest are more than one hundred years old; the most recent was done in 1947. Gleason was born in 1874, the year this building was completed. He lived here during the first half of his life and died in 1950 at Mt. Vernon, Washington. He painted throughout his life. Other items of interest include a Catholic eucharist service set for the homebound, Mrs. Ethel Rayburn’s Papal Cross, vintage fire-fighting equipment, a 1901 football helmet, and the still-working Victrola.
Room Two honors Pepin County’s men and women in uniform and the everyday lives of its citizens. Items of interest include: a log cabin doll house modeled on a 19th-century log cabin that stood in the Town of Waterville; a replica of the one-room Maple Ridge School; another C.H. Gleason oil painting; a rare, nearly complete collection of History of the War of the Rebellion (Civil War); a vintage baby stroller; and, the Dorwin's Mill 3-dimensional artwork.
Room Three is our household room featuring a 19th-century "Handy Washing Machine", products, tools and appliances used in and around the home, vintage clothing, a hand-pump vacuum, and a parlor stove.
Room Four focuses on health care professions with equipment, furnishings, and other artifacts from a doctor's and a dentist's offices, a former local hospital, a pharmacy, and from a barbershop; also, the "politically incorrect" mile marker for Durand Drug Co. from the early 1900s.
The Tool Room and the adjacent hallway include tools used in construction, shoemaking, river rafting, farming, logging, and carpentry.
Room Five features artifacts from the former Durand Railroad Depot and old Post Office. Items of interest include the telegraph/Morse Code equipment, old scales, a hand-powered rail drilling tool, a boxcar mover, and a railroad car portable heater. Just outside the door to Room Five is an old hand-crank telephone.
The Jail is attached to what was until 1984 the residence of the county Sheriff. The jail is significant for its original lattice-work iron cells which are relatively rare in Wisconsin. The jail was still being used until 1984.