The newest exhibit at Shelby’s Marias Museum of History and Art is definitely “timely”.
Last Tuesday evening the museum hosted an open house and dedication of a new clock display covering almost an entire wall.
The first time I was ever at the Marias Museum of History and Art I was sure I was going in the wrong direction. The original museum is an entire home at 1129 1st Street North in Shelby’s residential district. I always tell people to watch for the city swimming pool – then you can find the museum. A fairly recent addition to the museum is the Annex across the street and that’s where the new huge clock is displayed.
It began with an idea after seeing a massive clock – the idea was passed along to retired farmer/master inventor Harry Benjamin. The clock display ended up being a pretty substantial fundraiser for the Marias Museum as area residents and businesses were encouraged to sponsor a saw blade.
Each blade varies – some are ornately decorated depicting the sponsor and some are just engraved with the sponsor name. All in all, there are 208 saws on this wall surrounding plow discs. The entire wall seems to move!
It took Harry Benjamin from May 2009 to December 2011 to complete this masterpiece. At Tuesday’s dedication nearly 250 people applauded as Harry was presented a gold clock for his work in creating this amazing display.
In addition to the clock display, the Marias Museum’s open house featured a bell choir, gingerbread display and Christmas decorations.