About Us

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Our motto: “Preserving our Past to Enhance our Future,”

Our Mission Statement:   The mission of the Decatur Museum is to acquire artifacts as well as stories and historical information, preserving and utilizing them to educate the community about the history of Decatur.

A brief history of the origin of the Decatur Museum:

The Decatur Historical Committee started with organizing activities for the Lewis and Clark visit in 2004.  Cemetery tours were organized as well as photos of early Decatur.  The committee continued to meet and created the first historic calendar for the year 2005.  Their long-term goal was to establish a museum for Decatur.  A site was located and Jeff Baker started a fund within the Future of Decatur Foundation umbrella to purchase and finance the beginning of a museum.  A non-profit 501( C ) 3 corporation was established and the residence of Doris Ferguson was purchased.  It was a 2 story brick home that had been built in 1875 by A.B. Fuller.  

The Historical Committee now became the Board of Directors of the Decatur Museum.  The Decatur Museum held a dedication ceremony during River Front Days 2006.  After a lot of renovation to the building, the museum open doors for the main floor in 2008.  The upstairs was opened up a couple of years later.  Artifacts were being donated and displayed regularly.  The upstairs held a lot of Decatur Public School memorabilia.  The building was accepted by the National Register of Historic Places in 2019.

In May 2024, tragedy struck.  The building caught fire in the middle of the night and wasn’t discovered until morning.  The root cause was never determined but Decatur had experienced a severe electrical storm that night.   A few artifacts were salvaged as well as some of the files and books.  The Holy Family Catholic Church gifted their church and fellowship hall to the museum in the spring of 2025.  The Decatur Museum opened up in November of 2025 with Christmas displays.