Hancock Historic Preservation Committee Member Steve Walton, left, explains a portion of the exhibit to an on-looker. (Chelsea Bossert/Daily Mining Gazette)

HANCOCK — The City of Hancock has always been proud of its Finnish heritage. At Bridgefest, the newly opened Hancock History Hall in the City Garage opened its doors for people to enjoy. 

Hancock Historic Preservation Committee Chair Jonathon Nagel said the first set of displays will celebrate Finno-Ugric history in Hancock. 

“We’re hoping [it] will be some permanent fixtures, some rotating displays of the history of Hancock,” he said. “A couple of key fixtures that we’ve had for a long time, one being the first car in Hancock.”

The car on display was a 1907 Jewel Model D Runabout. Other displays came from the Hancock-owned former Finlandia buildings. Committee and City Council member Mandy Lounibos said the committee is grateful it could borrow some items. 

“We have some of their posters that they had created to talk about the Finnish-American History and their heritage, and they let us have it on loan,” she said.

Other items currently on display include traditional Estonian clothing, old Hancock Central High School memorabilia, photos, fabric, toys and documents. 

The process in getting the hall set up took the committee some time and a concerted effort to achieve. Committee member Steve Walton said the end result was worth the wait yet still not completely finished. 

“We hope to have a monthly lecture series in here… seating about 40 or 50,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll have a big screen eventually. We have one at Finlandia here; we just haven’t had it installed. Make it sort of a community lecture space gathering for modest presentations and things.”

Lounibos said the committee is all volunteer-based and enlisted help from the community to fill in missing pieces. 

“We’ve had volunteers step up to be committee members,” she said. “Then, we’ve also reached out to the area historians to help us write the historical explanations about the items.” 

According to committee members, the Hall will be open during city events, like Juhannas, as well as other summer happenings in downtown Hancock. The Hancock History Hall is located at 399 Quincy St.

“There’s gonna be something for all ages — little kids, older people,” she said. “We’re gonna have audio-visual displays as well.”

Hancock City Council member Mandy Lounibos, left, and the Director of Community Development for the City of Hancock Todd Gast, right, admire the work done to open Hancock History Hall last weekend at Bridgefest. (Chelsea Bossert/Daily Mining Gazette)