In 2010, the Museum of the Western Prairie officially turns forty years old. Begun in May 1969 as a joint project between the State of Oklahoma and the Western Trail Historical Society, contractors finished the building in January 1970. But it would be another four years before the museum officially opened, as the building at the time was merely a shell.

The Aldonian Club offered the first preview of the museum in April 1970.

Club members, outfitted in period costumes, hosted an event at the museum portraying the historical heritage of Southwest Oklahoma. Much of the displays and historical settings for the event were provided by the Aldonians themselves, trucked to the museum just for the showcase. The fund raiser generated $1,500 for the fledgling museum, allowing the Western Trail Historical Society to install a a much-needed kitchenette.

On July 1, 1970, the museum's first director, Loweta Chesser, began work. The museum would not officially open for nearly four more years (February 24, 1974), but the curator had enough to keep her busy.

Chesser later recalled that when she first started there were a few portable tables with artifacts—and very little else. Her office consisted of a single folding chair and borrowed file cabinet. Still, over the next several years, the new curator planned and installed th first exhibits at the museum (and many more before her retirement in 1994).

This month, as the museum quietly recalls decades past, it finds itself in an eerily similar situation to 1970. Following an asbestos abatement in 2007, the museum has remained closed while recovery work takes place.

Most of the original building, approximately half of the present structure, was damaged by the removal of asbestos. In fact, when the facility reopens half the exhibits in the museum will be entirely new.

There have been many complications over the least two years that have delayed work at the museum, but at last the way seems clear for reconstruction to begin. Meanwhile, just as forty years ago, a great deal of work continues behind the scenes planning the new exhibits. An so it appears presently that the museum could reopen by late 2010. So here's looking forward to our forty-first birthday in 2011, which may be a bigger milestone than forty.