Gibbs Museum of Pioneer and Dakotah Life
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| Established | 1949 |
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| Location | 2097 West Larpenteur Ave, Falcon Heights, Minnesota |
| Visitors | Two thousand/year |
| Director | Ramsey County Historical Society |
| Website | http://www.rchs.com/gbbsfm2.htm |
The Gibbs Museum of Pioneer and Dakotah Life is located on the Gibbs family farm just North of the Minnesota State Fair grounds in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. The museum seeks to educate visitors on the lives of 19th century Minnesota pioneers and the Dakotah people (also called Dakota) who lived in Minnesota before the arrival of Europeans.
A living museum, the Gibbs Museum features an original farm house, barn and school house, with original furnishings, as well as a replica sod house, bark lodge, and tipi with replica Dakotah furniture, clothing and tools.
The museum grounds offer visitors a natural Minnesota prairie as it would have looked like in the 19th Century as well as a Dakotah medecine teaching garden (the turtle garden), Dakotah vegetable garden, pioneer vegetable garden, a heritage apple orchard and farm animals.
It is open May 1st through October 31st, from noon to 4pm Tuesday-Sunday. Admission is $7 for adults, $6 for seniors and $4 for children age 2-16.
History
The museum focuses on the story of Jane Gibbs (born Jane DeBow), who was abducted at age five from her home near Batavia, NY in 1835 by the Stevensons, a missionary family. They brought her West to live among the Dakotah people near Fort Snelling, Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet where Jane attended the missionary school with the Dakotah children and learned to speak their language. She developed a close relationship with the Dakotah and was given the name "Zitkadan Usawin" (Little Bird that was Caught).
She moved with the Stevensons to Illinois where Jane met and married Heman Gibbs in Galena in 1848. They returned to Minnesota in 1849 and bought the land that would eventually become the Gibbs Museum of Pioneer and Dakotah Life in 1849.
Shortly after buying the land, Jane and Heman discovered an Indian trail running through it. Soon they found some of the same Dakotah who Jane had grown up with used the trail on their annual migration North to their wild ricing, hunting and fishing grounds in present day Forest Lake, Minnesota.
Each year the Dakotah band would stop at the Gibbs farm for up to three weeks to visit with Jane and her family before continuing their journey.
Sod House
After buying the land in 1849, Jane and Heman Gibbs built a small, one-room, dug-out sod house where they lived for 5 years while farming the land. The house was 10'x12' and built with logs with a sod roof.
The original location was next to the farm house and was excavated in 1995. Now a replica built from the architectural investigation stands in the prairie.
Farm House
In 1854 Jane and Heman built a one-room farm house just a few yards away from their sod house. It stayed a one-room house for 13 years, providing shelter for the 5 Gibbs children: Ida (adopted), Abbie, William, Frank and Lillie.
In 1867 the house was enlarged to meet the space needs of the family. The one-room house became an eight-room farm house as big and modern as any in the area. The enlarged house featured a parlor, six bedrooms, the hired men's room (called the "Pen"), and a summer kitchen.
SchoolHouse
Heman Gibbs was an educated man and believed in education for his own children and those in the area. In 1871 he donated land across the street for a schoolhouse and while it was being built he allowed class to be held in the farm house. The Gibbs family also boarded the teacher in their house.
The schoolhouse on the museum grounds today is not the original Herman was instrumental in getting built. This one was built around the same time near Milan, Minnesota and represents the typical pioneer one-room schoolhouse.
The schoolhouse was bought in 1966 for $100 by the Ramsey County Historical Society and had to make the 140 mile journey to the Gibbs Museum of Pioneer and Dakotah life between the hours of 9am-3pm while avoiding all major highways or roads.
External References
Gibbs Museum of Pioneer and Dakotah Life Web site: http://www.rchs.com/gbbsfm2.htm
Playtimeplanlt.com user review: http://playtimeplanit.com/gibbs-museum-of-pioneer-and-dakotah-life/140/