"Colony kid" helps museum reach the people

PALMER -- In the heart of the Palmer historic district, the Colony House museum sits peacefully along side Elmwood Avenue. Inside, longtime Palmer resident and "Colony kid," Wayne Bouwens, helped a woman with research about the wooden floors of the Colony houses.

Bouwens, like many other longtime locals, volunteers his time two and three times a week at the Colony museum. The purpose, said Bouwens, is to save the history of the Colony project, a relocation drafted by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 as a part of his "New Deal" plan. The plan gave 202 families from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan a chance for a new life. The plan promised 40 acres of land with 30 years to pay for it to families hurt by the Great Depression. Bouwens was five years of age at the time, and was part of the great move to Alaska. Bouwens arrived with his mother and father and five brothers and five sisters. Bouwens' father was a marshal with the U.S. Marshal service until its offices closed in 1958. His mother was a homemaker, and lovingly took care of Wayne and his nine siblings, he said.

The former Colony buildings can be seen all over Palmer. The Colony House Museum built in 1935 was one of the original houses in Palmer. Pending a sale of the land and no one to claim the house, the building was targeted for destruction. At that time, Bouwens said, is when the Mat-Su Borough stepped in and saved the building. The house was moved to its current location in 1995, and after about three years of renovation the house was opened as a museum in the later part of 1998.

The museum is open from 10 to 4 p.m. each week Tuesday through Saturday. This will be Bouwens' third year working at the museum and he said the museum is always looking for new help.

"This was one of many projects Roosevelt did to move people around and create a better life after the depression," Bouwens said. Bouwens said the museum is getting better and better each year.

"When the people come in they are sticking around a lot more, instead of Palmer being a 30-minute road stop, the people are seeing a lot more of the true Palmer … and that's worth preserving." Bouwens said.

"This year we're hoping to get more people involved, get more tourists. We get more and more each year," Bouwens said.

Bouwens said he hopes more word of mouth will help bring people to the museum. He also said local tours from Anchorage bring a lot of people to Palmer. The area from the Palmer Visitors Center on Colony Way west to the borough buildings include the Colony Inn and the Colony House museum and were put on one of the tours' lists of places to visit. "That's the kind of stuff we're trying to promote," Bouwens said.

As Bouwens sat outside the Colony House Museum, the warm sun shone down on himas he described in short detail what it all meant to to him.

"I went back to Wisconsin last year, and was surprised at the amount of farming they have. But I don't think I'll ever go back -- Alaska has been good to me," he said. "For me it's the preservation of all of this [history], to keep this area of town untouched by the fast growth of the area, so large companies like Fred Meyer can't just come in here and rip all of this up," he said, looking off into the distance, the shadows growing small on his face. He then looked back and continued to talk about the preservation of the area.

"I have heard of such talk as making Palmer a national historic town, now I don't know how much of that is truth but personally I don't think we need a Fred Meyer; but the people behind that didn't give us much of a choice … I hope we can preserve as much of this as we can," he said.

The summer tourist season for the museum starts around the 15th of June, he said.

"June and July are our biggest months," Bouwens said.

Asked to describe in one word what is it that makes this area special, Bouwens replied, "People. What best describes this area in general is the people -- the sense of community where people are friendly and always helping each other.