The wooden floors had long since rotted away, leaving the walls of the building at 720 Main St. in Eudora to surround a sloping floor of clay and rock. But under the peeling plaster, the original brick and limestone walls were strong, and more importantly, volunteers saw them for what they were: a part of the town’s history.

The renovated historic property at 720 Main St. in downtown Eudora is now the site of the Eudora Community Museum. There will be a dedication and grand-opening, Saturday April 4th at 11 a.m.

Ben Terwilliger, executive director of the Eudora Area Historical Society, left, and Benny Dean, vice president of the (EAHS), have been involved for 2 years in renovating the historic property at 720 Main St. in downtown Eudora. There will be a dedication and grand-opening of the Eudora Community Museum Saturday, April 4th at 11 a.m.

The renovated historic property at 720 Main St. in downtown Eudora is now the site of the Eudora Community Museum. There will be a dedication and grand-opening, Saturday April 4th at 11 a.m.

Now, after two years of restorations and the help of dozens of volunteers, the approximately 140-year-old downtown building is the new home of the Eudora Community Museum, maintained by the Eudora Area Historical Society.

The museum is important for Eudora residents to understand the history of their community, said Ben Terwilliger, executive director of the EAHS.

“This enables us to share with the community their sense of identity, their sense of their history,” he said.

With the renovation of the first floor complete, the EAHS will celebrate the grand opening of the museum’s new location with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. Saturday, followed by a reception. Entrance to the museum is free.

More than 50 Eudora area residents — including stonemasons, plumbers, carpenters, electricians and contractors — dedicated almost 4,000 hours of their time to the restoration project. Though the project received grants and donations of money and materials, the single biggest factor in its success was the volunteer labor, Terwilliger said.

“When we started here it was just a shell of a building, filled with junk,” he said in reference to how far the building has come.

EAHS member Benny Dean, who has volunteered about 1,000 hours of work toward the project, was hesitant to take any credit for his contribution, saying, “It was just being part of the Eudora community.”

The building, now listed on the Kansas Register of Historic Places, was built in the 1870s by German immigrants and has been home to hardware stores and a post office, as well as plumbing and electrical shops.

Echoing its past as a post office, the museum houses a wall of wooden mailboxes that once served the entire town: dark-stained wood with painted gold numbers ranging from one to 131.

Jim Harris, also an EAHS member, remembers coming to the building as a child when it was a plumbing supplies store in the 1940s. In addition to the supplies, Harris recalls a table where people played checkers and dominos near a pot-bellied stove. The museum saves part of that history of Eudora, Harris said.

“It’s not flashy, but it’s important to the people here,” he explained.

One artifact fitting that characterization sits right by the front door: an old light post. The post, formerly located at the intersections of 7th and Main Streets, served for decades as an informal community notice board. Testament to that past, it is punctured with 1,333 nails and more than 500 staples.

The museum also houses more official artifacts. Terwilliger said the three most important artifacts in the collection are the original deed to Eudora, the only known photograph of the namesake of the community, Eudora Fish, and the original map of the town.

The restoration of the building’s second floor should be complete by next year and will allow the museum to add more exhibits and artifacts, Terwilliger said. In addition to helping the community better understand its history, Terwilliger said he hopes the location of the museum will help the local economy.

“We fixed up the building, and that helps revitalize Main Street,” Terwilliger said. “There is one less empty building, and that will hopefully lead to more people coming downtown.”