About
Our museum was the idea and vision of Amos Musbach. In 1973, Amos purchased and donated the Milligan building to the city of Scribner. Here are articles from several people who knew him and worked with him. We have also included an article from an original board member, and newspaper clippings about the foundation of the Musbach Museum.
Amos Musbach
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First open house and Amos Musbach's Birthday Nov. 1973
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Amos Musbach family
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Musbach with an unknown child
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George Stockamp's Memories
Noah Banks Class of '20
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Amos Musbach. According to George Stockamp, Amos was an expert welder and could fix just about anything that that was brought to him. There are many things that made Musbach unique. He had many political stands, and he also did not believe in daylight savings time. One thing about Musbach stood out though, and that was his community spirit.
Musbach was a community man. He was on the town board, District 29 school board, and the board of the co-op. While Musbach was on the school board for years, he never had any children. In fact, none of his siblings, August, Nelly, and Elmer, had children either or were married, as their father had discouraged them from doing so. There is no explanation shared with Stockamp. They all treated themselves equally. Amos was the oldest of the siblings, and he lived the longest. As a welder, Amos did not want to pay someone to work for him because of the taxes and rules that went along with it. He hated taxes as it was. Then, a young George Stockamp came to him and asked to learn under him as a student. Amos taught George the basics, and what he needed to know about welding as a career. Stockamp recalled working on his first big “project”, and Amos set time aside to make sure he got it done. Amos had customers wait just to make sure he would get his project done for George’s father. “He stopped what he was working on for other people to make sure mine was done first.” Stockamp said. Amos was a master at welding, despite the fact he never went to college to learn and was self-taught. Yet he was the best at using oxygen for his welds. People traveled from other towns to have Amos work on their projects. Another interesting fact was that Amos actually had a small store where he sold not only machine parts, but other daily necessities. Another little known fact about Amos was that he could also work on jewelry, specifically working on pocket watches. George Stockamp shared with the web design class some of the pocket watches owned by the Musbach family, stating, “If Amos couldn’t fix it no one could.” In his down time, always kept a garden. He was the first country person in that area of Scribner with television. He had a tower that he made himself, and people from all around would come to watch the World Series on his television. How big of an impact did he have on everyone around him? It can be summed up with one thing. George named one of his kids after Amos and his shop is in the same building as Amos’ was. Stockamp shared,“He meant the world to me.” |
Amos Musbach 80th Birthday
Amos Musbach with his brother
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Nona Wiese's Memory
Peyton Wolford Class of ‘20
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During our interview with Nona Wiese, we asked her a few things about Amos Musbach and her ties with him. Many of the questions were simple but she had a lot of information about the founder and the museum.
According to Wiese, Musbach was “A quiet little guy, whom had dropped shoulders.” She had not met him until later in his life when he was older. Her favorite thing about him was that he was “Honest, knew his history, and wanted to share it.” She also stated he was generous. Musbach, while loving history, didn’t keep things in good places. One story she told was that Musbach wanted to save an organ but forgot it out in the front yard for a long while. In addition to that, he forgot an old farm planter out in the grove. Because of that all the items they were given by Musbach were put into the museum to try and preserve them. One of the major items Musbach brought to town, and is getting preserved, is his steam engine. He rode it into town by himself and even drove it in a couple of parades. As of now it is on display inside the north gate at the Scribner Fairgrounds. It sits inside of a cage for viewing and for storage. |
Musbach Steam Engine
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Nona Wiese: An Original Board Member
Noah Banks and Peyton Wolford Class of ‘20
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Nona Wiese did not plan on being on the museum board. Wiese was working for Consumer Public Power as a secretary when a board was being assembled for the museum. They needed a woman to be on the board, which she jumped at the chance.
“There was no women working in town… they asked my boss if I could be on it,” Weise said. Original members consisted of Mrs. Nona Wiese, Amos Musbach, Arnold Klamt, Albert Tuchenhagen, Walter Bleyhl, Alfred Egbers. Wiese and others at one point assumed that the museum would have been placed in Snyder since Amos had more ties there than he did in Scribner. Today, as the last member of the original board, Wiese has to put in a lot of time and hard work to keep the museum in operation. Despite the numerous tasks, Weise continues to manage the museum. According to Wiese, she has always had a love for history. “I used to sit and listen to people tell stories,”Wiese said. “It all just became natural as you get involved with people and hear more history of Scribner.” The most challenging part of running the museum is trying to actually find room for all the new items they receive. Currently, most of the space is dedicated to already existing exhibits and there is a lack of space for new or additions to exhibits. As the years pass, Wiese acknowledges that history is continues to add up. “History continues,” Wiese said. “What’s old to me isn’t old to you.” Of the numerous exhibits, Wiese’s favorite is the display of baseball uniforms worn by the Scribner team and the trophies they had won. “Scribner was always a baseball town. A couple of fellows gave us uniforms and a trophy they had won,” Wiese said. “A ball team holds your town together.” Another noticeable display is the dental exhibit. The equipment that is displayed is actually from the 1940s, around WWII. There is also a kitchen display. Within the exhibit is a refrigerator which is believed to be from the 1930s. The same fridge was even being used 20 years ago. Nevertheless, Nona has a museum to maintain, and the lack of space in the only thing getting in her way. However, she plans on keeping the museum open for the foreseeable future and accepting donations from the public, “We get great support from the community as well,” Wiese said. With the museum comes an increase in items. The items are getting to be too much and she wants to find a new space to keep them. One of her thoughts was to make a building on the west side of the city auditorium. It could house things that don’t need to be in room temp places. It can also double as a showing case for the steam engine and other items. To the right is one of Nona Wiese's weekly columns that were published in the Scribner Rustler. This one is from the April 17. 1991 Rustler.
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Original Museum board members
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