Cokato Museum & Gust Akerlund Studio Facts for Kids

Cokato Museum & Gust Akerlund Studio
The Cokato Museum from the southwest
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Established	1976 (1976)
Location	175 4th Street Southwest, Cokato, Minnesota
Type	Local history

The Cokato Museum & Gust Akerlund Studio is a cool place to learn about history in Cokato, Minnesota. It's a local history museum that tells the story of Cokato and the towns nearby in southwest Wright County.

This museum is actually made of two buildings right next to each other. One is a modern museum hall. The other is the August Akerlund Photographic Studio. This studio is super special because it's the only old photography studio from the early 1900s still standing in the Upper Midwest region. The City of Cokato and the Cokato Historical Society work together to run the museum.

Discover the Cokato Museum
Explore the Gust Akerlund Studio
See also

Discover the Cokato Museum

The Cokato Museum first opened its doors in 1976. It has many interesting exhibits that show what life was like in the area. You can learn about the culture, how people made a living, and how society changed over time.

There's also a special gallery that changes its exhibits. These temporary displays focus on different local history topics. Inside the museum, you'll find cool full-size models. These include a furnished log cabin, part of a unique round barn called the Titrud Round Barn, and a street scene from the early 1900s.

The museum also has a research area. Here, you can look at old newspapers, census records, church records, and family histories. It's a great place for anyone who wants to dig deeper into the past.

Explore the Gust Akerlund Studio

The Gust Akerlund Studio was the photography business of August "Gust" Akerlund. He was an immigrant from Sweden. Gust Akerlund (1872–1954) ran his studio for most of the first half of the 1900s.

History of the Studio

Akerlund bought the building from another photographer in Cokato in 1902. In 1905, he had the studio moved to where it is now. He also added a skylight, which is a window in the roof, to let in more natural light for his photos.

In 1927, Gust married Esther Hanson. A few years later, he added an apartment to the back of the studio. This became their home.

A Historic Landmark

The Gust Akerlund Studio is very important. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. This means it's recognized for its special architecture and its role in local business history. It's one of the few photography studios from the early 1900s that still exists today.

Esther Akerlund lived in the studio apartment until just before she passed away in 1985. Their son, Ted, gave the studio and everything inside it to the city. The city then restored it, and it opened to the public in 1986.

Inside the Studio

Today, the building still has its original furniture. It looks just like it did in the 1930s. You can see the Akerlunds' old pump organ, a horsehair couch, and a Mission style rocking chair.

In the studio part, you'll find Akerlund's cameras and other photography tools. He also left behind a huge collection of over 14,000 photo negatives. More than 11,000 of these are glass plate negatives, which were common back then.