Excitement growing in Eldon

BY CINDY TOOPES COURIER STAFF WRITER

January 11, 2007 11:11 pm

— ELDON — Excitement is the only thing building faster than the construction crew at the Gothic House Visitor’s Center.
“The center is beautiful inside. We can’t wait to share it with Wapello County,” Brenda Kremer said Thursday. “It’s small, but so is Eldon. It fits us.”
Kremer is one of the longtime American Gothic Committee members who have labored long and hard to collect monies to build a visitors/education center near the Gothic House.
The center is down the hill from the Gothic House in Eldon. The small house with the gothic windows provided inspiration for artist Grant Wood’s painting, “American Gothic.”
Kremer said the center will receive help from the Wapello County Foundation, but the details aren’t known yet. Back in November, she said the foundation would donate funds for equipment needed in the media area.
“Keep in mind — the grand opening will be Gothic Days weekend, June 8-9,” Kremer said.
Soon some of the committee members will go to Des Moines to meet with Jerome Thompson at the State Historical Society and Jennie Bailey, the exhibit designer. Last fall, the committee went to Des Moines for the state’s recognition of projects using Vision Iowa money.
“We all wore our Gothic T-shirts and jeans to the reception and everyone else dressed up,” Kremer said. “Someone said that was a great way to show support for our project.”
Linda Durflinger of Eldon is another committee member and city councilwoman. She said Bi-State Contracting of Burlington is 90 percent done with the building itself.
“Today they’re laying floor tile,” she added.
In March, bids will be let for extending the walking trail, the access road and parking lot.
“The center’s just beautiful,” Durflinger said.
She remarked on the two kinds of tile in the Gothic Center. The ceramic tile on the bathroom walls will form a three-foot by four-foot mural of just the Gothic House. In the gift shop area, there will be “American Gothic” parodies on the glass tile.
“We can tell you this, but until you see it you don’t quite get it,” Durflinger said.
She had nothing but praise for the construction company.
“They have worked diligently on the place and kept the site clean,” she said.
Durflinger is in her second term as a council member and the Gothic House project has been ongoing way before that.
“People have been working on it for years, slowly, steadily,” she said. “Now, it’s very exciting.”
Fellow commitee member Priscilla Coffman agreed.
“It’s so exciting,” she said.
Coffman said they will soon be advertising for an administrator for the new Gothic House Center. The position will be filled in February and March 1 is the first day of the job.
Volunteers are still doing their part for the center. Gene Stacey is building cabinets for the gift shop.
“So many have lined up to help,” Coffman said.
The committee is considering having home-crafted things about Eldon, “souvenir kinds of thing,” for sale in the gift shop.
“The bottom line is we would be using proceeds to pay for the center’s upkeep,” she said. “We don’t want to be a burden to the county.”
Coffman said the center has a board of directors, created through a 28E agreement between Eldon and Wapello County. The city council chose Coffman and Donna Jeffrey and the Wapello County Board of Supervisors appointed Kurt Baker and Sam Rodgers from the county conservation board.
“The four of us together got to appoint the fifth person so we appointed Supervisor Steve Siegel,” she said.
Jeffrey is the fourth committee member and has worked hard on grants for the Gothic Center. Now she is board president, according to Coffman, who is board secretary.
Coffman said Jeffrey is also involved with the Gothic trail that will hook up with Ottumwa Trail System and Gothic Area Tourism of Eldon.
For information about the Gothic Center, contact Carrie at Eldon City Hall at (641) 652-7510.
Cindy Toopes can be reached at (641) 683-5376 or via e-mail at cindy@ottumwacourier.com.

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