WHITE BEAR LAKE AREA 
White Bear Lake Area Historical Society is celebrating 40 years!
On September 25, 2010, the White Bear Lake Area Historical Society turns forty. As we begin our fifth decade of collecting, preserving and sharing the stories of the communities that touch the shore of White Bear Lake we find ourselves looking back at our own history.
The WBLAHS developed out of the Heritage Committee formed in 1968 as a subcommittee of the then White Bear Lake Area Chamber of Commerce (today the White Bear Area Chamber) to celebrate and promote the heritage of our area. The most notable of that committee’s accomplishments included the creation of what has become today’s Manitou Days festival and the publishing of Nancy Woolworth’s The White Bear Lake Story.
By 1970 it was determined that the community would benefit from a full-fledged charitable organization dedicated to preserving its history. The White Bear Lake Area Historical Society (WBLAHS) was incorporated with the State of Minnesota in September and immediately began to pursue artifacts and photos to tell the stories of our heritage.
Throughout the 1970s the WBLAHS worked with the Fillebrown family to showcase their 1879 lakeside cottage as a vehicle to bring history to life for school groups and other visitors. Siblings Helen and Arthur Fillebrown donated their home and its contents to the WBLAHS upon Arthur’s death in 1978.
During the 1980s members of the WBLAHS Board of Directors worked diligently to support the project they had undertaken. Fundraisers such as a Victorian Tea, an ice cream social and a variety of Christmas gatherings were developed to cover the costs of maintaining the Victorian cottage and share our history with its visitors.
In 1993 when the City of White Bear Lake completed the renovations of the former Northern Pacific Depot at the intersection of Highway 61 and Fourth Street the WBLAHS created a permanent exhibit space in the north portion of the building they would then share with the White Bear Area Chamber of Commerce until 2001.
With the new millennium came a new era for the Historical Society. That year the organization hired Sara Markoe Hanson, its first paid staff person and expanded to occupy the entire depot building after the Chamber moved to new offices in town. The increased space provided the opportunity to develop a Resource Library, gift shop and office with regular hours in addition to the exhibit space.
In the last decade the WBLAHS has expanded its programs to include a series of guided walking tours, self-guided and guided boat tours on White Bear Lake, an annual Spring Event and recreated the popular Historic House Tours of the 1970s and ‘80s. We also have a weekly presence in the Matoska Memories column in the White Bear Press and our very popular Historic Photo Calendar.
