Welcome to the Ephraim Historical Foundation
and the Ephraim Village Museums

Helen Sohns could not sleep.  She had heard the Village of Ephraim was going to build a new school and sell the old one where she had spent so many years teaching.  She hoped that somehow the old building could be saved, for she knew it had played a key role in Ephraim's past.

Helen mentioned this to her friend Warren Davis, who agreed with her.  One-room schoolhouses were becoming as rare as covered bridges, he said.  If there wasn't an effort made to save the Pioneer Schoolhouse, an important part of local history would be lost forever.

Fortunately, these two preservers of history, along with a few other concerned community members, banded together and raised the neccesary funds to save the schoolhouse in 1949.  Thus the story of the Ephraim Historical Foundation and the Ephraim Village Museums was born.

Now celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2009, the Ephraim Historical Foundation's legacy has spread to all aspects of historic preservation in Ephraim -- buildings, monuments, artifacts, and more.  We are just as committed to preserving Ephraim's history as Helen Sohns and Warren Davis were in 1949, and we invite you to see for yourself by taking a tour through our five living history museums, or by taking part in one of our many summer programs!