Only in Minnesota! A Butter Museum…In A Bank?

Do you collect something?  It may have started small but now it's grown into a collection that is much larger and fills a room instead of a shelf?  That's how it all started for a Vergas, MN man.  Now it's a museum in the basement of a bank.

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Gordon Dahlgren started the collection in the 1950's.  He was the bank President, but missed his childhood days growing up on a farm and in particular, the cows.  So he started collecting dairy related items.  He focused on DeLaval products.  His daughter said he just loved them.

According to Wikipedia DeLaval is a producer of dairy and farming machinery.  It has been bought and sold a few times, but in the end it kept the name DeLaval from the companies original founder Gustaf de Laval.

It turned into a family affair as they would sometimes take road trips across the country, never taking the interstate, but instead taking roads through lots of different small towns in an effort to find more dairy-related items.  Gordon would also take his kids to auctions where he would buy other sought-out items.

Gordon passed away in 2007.  His daughter is now the Mayor of Vergas and the Bank still hosts 'Gordon's Butter and Dairy Museum' in the basement.  It's a free attraction that is open to the public.  So now you've got a stop on your next road trip!