“I’ve been surrounded by fossils all of my life,” said Stuart Schmidt.
Located on Highway 12 driving into Lemmon is the Grand River Museum—a place that celebrates everything from paleontology to indigenous history to homesteading to family heirlooms.
The idea stemmed from finds right on the Schmidt ranch, beginning with his great-grandpa homesteading on the land.
“There’s a story about my grandpa and his sister who were very young, 10 or 12 years old, and they went out to retrieve the milk cows,” described Stuart. “There were no fences at the time, and when they went out to get the cows, they found a full dinosaur laid out eroded out of the land.”
He continued, “They went back to their dad and told him that they found a ‘dead monster’ out there.”
Stuart says those particular dinosaur fossils “dried up and blew away,” but the family kept discovering more treasures.
Soon the land was busy with colleges, universities, and other private archeological digs happening at the ranch.
“It seemed like with everybody who would come, they would take the fossils with them to their particular university or museum or wherever, and that’s one of the reasons that [my wife] Lisa and I decided to start the museum,” he continued, “to keep the fossils found here on our ranch here in our own town, and showcase them here where they were found, other than out in the world.”
The Grand River Museum started in 1998 and currently has up to 28 species of fossils. Stuart says the predominant one is the duck-billed dinosaur, the Edmontosaurus, which was named for the first fossil in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada—the area where it was discovered.
There is also a Pachycephalosaurus and Triceratops skull and other fossils found on the ranch, along with scattered, isolated bones from a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
“We’ve never found a complete or articulated skeleton or bones of a T-Rex,” said Stuart. “That’s fairly rare.”
One of the main goals of the museum is to educate visitors.
“That’s really what the Grand River Museum is all about; our history of the Grand River,” he said.
But the attraction didn’t originally have its prime location. In 2001, a former hardware store on Highway 12 opened up, and the Schmidts jumped at the chance to move in.
“That was a huge innovation, because we turned a run-down hardware store into our museum, and it was the old adage of location, location, location,” said Stuart.
HEY, PHYLLIS!
Most days you can find Stuart’s mom, Phyllis, working at the museum. Ask her anything!
“We Feature a lot about the lakota chiefs from the area.”
-Stuart Schmidt
In 2015 Stuart and Lisa did a lot of renovations themselves, adding a 40-by-60 foot structure to the end of the building, creating a new entrance, and building a new gift shop.
The pair had previously visited other museums across the United States and took notes about pros and cons of each location.
“We always pointed out and thought about the things that we liked about each one and how we would do it, or how we would do it differently,” said Stuart. “And we had the freedom to do that because we were in that management position.”
With skills like carpentry and design, Stuart says they built all of the exhibits themselves, and jokes if guests don’t like it, they’re the ones to blame.
“That’s one thing about our museum that is different,” he said. “It matures as we go along.”
The Grand River Museum has a variety of displays, and Stuart says people are drawn to different elements—some love the Native American history, some veer towards the fossils, and others have memories of homesteading in their families.
“Guests will tell stories of how a certain display had affected them or their family, or how they were involved in this certain event, so it stirs up a lot of conversation,” he said.
“We’re pretty spontaneous people, so we kind of grow as we see a need. we try and change things and make them better.”
-stuart schmidt
The community has been huge for the venue, and Stuart credits locals for being some of the best guides for the tourist destination.
“[Grand River] adds to the whole cultural feel of our Lemmon area, when they can come in and they love the local people and the feel of taking their family and friends around, complimenting the different things, the different parts of history they’re interested in,” he described.
Donations by the community have also meant a lot to the museum, and the couple use it for improvements and to keep the attraction alive.
“I think it’s been a very positive impact on the community, and the community has been a very positive impact on the museum,” said Stuart.
For those who want to keep up with Grand River Museum and Lemmon happenings, Stuart has a newsletter. This highlights things like events, camping info, and the latest at the museum.
And changes to Grand River Museum are probably coming, as Stuart and Lisa are always up for updates and new features.
“We find that the museum is an awful lot of hard work, but with a lot of time, hard work is rewarded,” said Stuart. “Not necessarily in any other way, but rewarded. And it’s been more of a blessing to us, and we hope it can be a blessing to others.”
