TIPTON, Iowa — A third-grader’s intrigue triggered one woman’s efforts to share Cedar County’s past with its future generations.

During the student’s visit in January 2008 to Pam LaRue’s antique shop in Tipton, one boy stood out to her.

“I noticed out of the corner of my eye there was this one little boy who kept circling around the ice box,” she said.

He asked about the ice box when she approached him, and LaRue realized how little children knew about the past.

“My husband and I decided we would try to give back to the community and do something different,” she said.

LaRue and husband Phil opened the Cedar County Attic in August 2008.

“Everything you see has been brought in by Cedar County residents,” she said.

Artifacts and keepsakes fill the former Grand Army of the Republic post at 421 Cedar St. in Tipton, above Ms. Molly’s antique store.

Cedar County Attic is like a museum, LaRue said, except donors can take their mementos home.

“The main focus of Cedar County Attic is we only borrow things,” she said. “We don’t want to own anything. We feel these treasures belong to the families.”

The collection began with a few donated photos in the antique store.

The local American Legion post donated about a dozen military uniforms when it closed.

A display also includes dinnerware, photos and records from Al’s Meet and Eat, a diner where Richie Valens and Buddy Holly stopped when their car’s heater broke down on the way to their final concert at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake on Feb. 3, 1959.

“They stopped here. They sang to one of the waitresses,” LaRue said.

Both died when their plane crashed later that day.

The first floor also features a room set up as a kitchen at the turn of the 20th century on one side, and country schoolhouse on the other side.

“A lot of the kids don’t realize what school used to be like,” LaRue said.

The upstairs is wheelchair accessible with an elevator.

The LaRues preserved the original wood floors, trim and many of the glass window panes from the Grand Army of the Republic, William Beaver Post No. 110.

“I think the ‘wow!’ factor for me is the place itself, knowing this is where the Civil War veterans went,” said Kathy Schott, one of about a dozen volunteers.

She helps give tours of Cedar County Attic dressed in period clothing, which LaRue said “adds to the mystique that’s up here.”

A Victorian-era room is open for public use on the six days each week that Cedar County Attic is open. It includes a kitchenette and can hold 20-25 people.

The letters “GAR” are displayed on the front windows. LaRue said they were not originally displayed at Post No. 110, but were at many others.

On display are reproductions of abolitionist quilts, a carved toy collection by retired teacher Merlyn Beckler, artifacts from an old drug store and veterans’ memorabilia from past and present wars.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a small child and his treasure is rocks that look like gravel to us,” LaRue said. “Everyone’s treasures are important.”

Items from the community are on display for 30-60 days.

“With the rotation, we’re always trying to have something new and different when people come in,” LaRue said.

Cedar County Attic also maintains historical documents, family genealogies and  interviews with residents.

Schott said one collection is from sisters Eloise and Marjorie Laubscher, educators from a pioneer family who were close family friends.

“They were the reason I have a love for history,” she said of Eloise, who died in 1993, and Marjorie, who died in 2001.

Schott displayed some pottery that washed up on her mother-in-law’s farm during the 2008 floods. An expert at the University of Iowa said they are 2,200 to 2,300 years old, she said.

“People like me bring in things that we have no idea what they are,” Schott said. “I learn something different every time I come here.”

She enjoys watching others who are “so proud when they bring their stuff in that other people are interested in it,” she said.

Said LaRue, “We want people to feel this belongs to the community.”

Details

What: Cedar County Attic

Where: 421 Cedar St., Suite B, Tipton

Hours: 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday through Saturday

Cost: Free

Phone: 563-886-6288

Online:

www.cedarcountyattic.com