Walk into the new Kemin Cultivation Center at Living History Farms, and you’ll find the types of exhibits in the climate-controlled building that never would have existed in its previous gallery space, a 1930s hog barn that the museum had converted.

Inside the 4,000-square-foot center is, among other exhibits, a prairie schooner, which was built for the country’s 1976 bicentennial. On the walls are quilts from the Living History Farms collection. There is a hearse from 1879. There is an exhibit called Road to Liberty, produced by the White House, showcasing the signers of the Declaration and the women of the American Revolution.

“During this time of year when we don’t have the farm sites open for general visitation just because of Midwest weather, they can still come in and tour this gallery,” said Elizabeth Keest Sedrel, director of marketing and communications for the museum. “It’s a space where people can come all year round.” 

The center, which opened in May 2025, is part of a $6.2 million capital campaign that also included a new courtyard and the renovation of the former visitor center to become the new Learning Center for all of Living History Farms’ education programs, including day camps, according to Keest Sedrel. 

One room in the Learning Center is being converted into a “Spark Lab,” sponsored by the Smithsonian, leaders said.

“It is the study of invention and innovation, and … our instructor from the Smithsonian is coming to train all of us how to invite our visitors to invent and discover the invention process,” said Ruth Haus, president of Living History Farms. “So a lot of that will focus on agricultural inventions, inventions by Iowans.”

The enhancements came with new visitor amenities, including a family restroom and mother’s lounge.

While the reaction to all the improvements has been “wonderful,” Keest Sedrel said, museum leaders still say they are operating in an environment of uncertainty.

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The new Kemin Cultivation Center allows for year-round visits to Living History Farms. Photos by Duane Tinkey

The new Kemin Cultivation Center allows for year-round visits to Living History Farms. Photos by Duane Tinkey

“Everything from camp parents being able to pull right up to the door, to having a sheltered space for lunch, to having all of these new exhibits, that’s all been great,” she said. “But we’re also in a period of uncertainty about what people are going to do travel-wise. Anybody who’s any kind of a destination right now is going to have to be thinking about, ‘OK, we’re looking at gas prices, we’re looking at airport issues. Are these going to affect the number of people who are coming through our door?’ And again, it’s math that we just can’t rely on past formulas to do anymore. We’re always, it seems, living through something unprecedented.”

Haus said even with challenges, the timing of the fundraising campaign was “very lucky.” 

“The environment is more competitive, and the cost of construction is more than it was before COVID,” Haus said. “But I feel like we had been planning this for so long and included so many people in those community and stakeholder conversations that we had, I feel like we had done a good job laying the groundwork for when we were ready to pick the campaign up.”

In addition to private contributions, the Iowa Economic Development Authority board awarded the project a $1.49 million Destination Iowa grant in April 2024.

Sally Dix, president of Bravo Greater Des Moines, one of Living History Farms’ funders, said the museum has done well with data collection, storytelling and alignment with regional priorities, as well as being responsive and remaining relevant. 

Bravo gave $50,000 to the capital campaign, specifically for a family restroom with an adult changing table, which the museum didn’t have before.

“You can’t just keep doing what you’ve always done and talking about it in the same way,” Dix said. “Living History Farms is both doing new and innovative things, and they are talking about it in relevant and responsive ways. So I think that’s something that really has resonated with the community and lifted up this project.”

Bravo, the region’s arts council, invests funds contributed by 17 local government partners in arts, culture and heritage organizations and projects across Greater Des Moines.

“Hopefully most people understand the intrinsic value of arts and culture,” Dix said. “It inspires creativity and collaboration, inspiration. We’re very proud of the investments that we make on that side, but fewer people understand the business nature and the economic impact of the sector.”

Dix said the organization’s most recent data indicate that the nonprofit arts and culture sector, which includes heritage and interpretive science, generates more than $309 million in annual economic impact.

“[It] is really significant when you consider, for example, the year that that data was collected, Bravo invested about $4.5 million worth of public funds, and these organizations turned it into $309 million worth of economic impact. … That’s about a 70 to 1 return on investment of public funding, which is a really exciting data point to share.” 

The new center at Living History Farms and the other improvements originated from a master planning process that started in 2017, Haus said.

“The full board went through at that time to identify ways to make Living History Farms really move from a seasonal institution to a year-round destination,” Haus said. “[It] allows us to generate more earned income and to be less reliant on fundraising support, and of course, that is part of any nonprofit organization. We have to raise funds, but being able to generate as much earned income as possible was important to us.”

Plus, the museum wanted to modernize, which it couldn’t do with its historic sites, she said.

“Most of them don’t have climate control, they don’t have water, they don’t have electricity. And so we really knew [we needed] to use that exhibit space to tie to more modern changes in agriculture and rural life,” she said.