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Transcribed oral history interview with Patrick Demuth and Jerome Fiola volunteers who helped to make the Worthington Minnesota Armory into the Nobles County Historical Society headquarters. File contains spiral bound and unbound transcribed interview, signed release agreement and notes. Interview was conducted by Barbara W. Sommer.

INTERVIEW DATE: December 9, 2020

INTERVIEW LENGTH: 1:47:41

RECORDING MEDIUM: digital audio, MP4

TECHNICAL NOTES: The interview was recorded remotely using Zoom, a web-based video conferencing tool. during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was transcribed by Lois Glewwe, project transcriber.

INTERVIEW NOTES: This interview was added to the project to tell the story of the Armory's becoming the headquarters of the Nobles County Historical Society. Jerry Fiola and Patrick Demuth were instrumental in this effort and agreed to tell the story as they remembered it. They were pleased to be part of the oral history project and participated in the interview in the office of the Nobles County Historical Society, located in the basement of the county library at the time. Beginning at about 1:30, Patrick Demuth had to step away from the interview several times to deal with a breakdown of the City Hall computer server.

SUMMARY OF INTERVIEW CONTENT: In this interview, Jerry Fiola and Patrick Demuth described the years of discussions and decisions that led to the Nobles County Board of Commissioners making the decision to turn the Armory building over to the Nobles County Historical Society for use as an historical society headquarters and museum. They described the various suggested uses for the building before the decision was made, their involvement in community meetings and discussions about the uses, the roles of various organizations involved in the decision including the Nobles County Commissioners, the Nobles County Library, and the Nobles County Art Center, the roles of community members and ad hoc groups who participated in the discussions, the gift by the Ludlow family that helped move the decision forward, and the steps that the Nobles County Historical Society took to meet the needs of taking on the building. As Jerry Fiola commented at the end of the interview, "It would be hard to find a building that has more history in the county,"

This transcript was made possible by Legacy funding from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund established by the vote of Minnesotans on November 4, 2008, and administered by the Minnesota Historical Society. Funding was awarded to the Nobles County Historical Society through the following grant: R-MHCG-1912-24013 | $9,950 | MN Historical and Cultural

The Minnesota National Guard in Worthington, Minnesota Oral History Project. This oral history project focused on interviews with former members of the Minnesota National Guard in Nobles County who served from the Worthington National Guard Armory building.

Contact the Nobles County Historical Society for more information