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CELEBRATING THE HUGO HISTORICAL COMMISSION <br />9 <br />Join us in celebrating the 20-year anniversary <br />of the creation of the Hugo Historical <br />Commission! The commission was created <br />when the City Council voted in favor of its <br />establishment on December 16, 2002, charged <br />with preserving and protecting <br />the history of Hugo. <br />The mission of the Hugo Historical <br />Commission is to connect our <br />community to its past by: <br />• Locating, collecting, and preserving <br /> historical information about our <br /> community. <br />• Educating the community, encouraging <br />personal and community responsibility for <br />preserving our past, and fostering an un- <br />derstanding and appreciation of our history. <br />The Hugo Historical Commission has <br />worked on several projects that have greatly <br />enhanced the collective understanding of <br />community history, and preserving it for <br />generations to come. A notable recent <br />accomplishment was the Hugo Namesake <br />Project, which sought to answer the age- <br />old question; was Hugo named for Duluth <br />Mayor and Marine Engineer Trevanion Hugo, <br />or French writer of Les Misérables fame <br />Victor Hugo? A few other research projects <br />the Historical Commission completed detailed <br />Eugene Peltier the Village Blacksmith, the dev- <br />astation of the Polio Epidemic, and the history <br />of railroad transportation in Hugo. <br />All of these projects, and the fascinating <br />stories that come with them, are available <br />for the public on the city website. <br /> <br /> <br />The work of the Hugo Historical Commission <br />has had an incredible impact on our collec- <br />tive understanding of the community’s past, <br />present, and future, and would not have been <br />possible without the hard work of the <br />Commission’s volunteers for the past two <br />decades. <br />We would like to give special <br />recognition to Cynthia Schoonover, <br />who has been a member of the Hugo <br />Historical Commission <br />since its founding <br />in 2002. <br />Cynthia has chaired <br />the Hugo Historical <br />Commission since <br />2015, and has been <br />an instrumental force <br />in keeping Hugo’s <br />history alive. Please <br />join us in thanking <br />Cynthia for her <br />decades of service! <br />The Hugo Historical Commission <br />has been very involved with an on- <br />going project led by local community <br />members to save and restore the Hop- <br />kins Schoolhouse. The schoolhouse <br />was constructed in 1928 near the inter- <br />section of 170th St N and Highway 61, <br />and served as an “ungraded elemen- <br />tary school.” After its use as a school, <br />the building saw service as the town <br />hall for Oneka Township until 1972, <br />when the township incorporated with <br />the Village of Hugo forming the City <br />of Hugo. Although the schoolhouse <br />saw brief use as a youth meeting cen- <br />ter, the building has remained vacant <br />since the early 2000s. <br />In 2022, a group of volunteers <br />formed a steering committee to <br />create a nonprofit organization to be <br />known as the Hopkins Schoolhouse & <br />Heritage Center, envisioning the space <br />as a museum of Hugo history and <br />community gathering place. The City <br />Council approved a request from the <br />steering committee to not remove the <br />schoolhouse, to enter an agreement <br />with the Forest Lake Area Historical <br />Society as the temporary fiscal host for <br />the project, and to transition the agree- <br />ment to the new non-profit organiza- <br />tion once formed. Since the approval, <br />City staff has been working with the <br />steering committee on details for this <br />agreement, which will be reviewed at <br />a later date by the City Council. Mean- <br />while, the steering committee is work- <br />ing on a capital campaign and other <br />plans to secure funding. <br />For more information or to inquire <br />about ways to support the Hopkins <br />Schoolhouse & Heritage Center, visit <br />hopkinsschoolhouse.org or on <br />Facebook. <br />Hugo HIstorical Commission <br />Cynthia Schoonover, <br />HIstorical Commission