HISTORIC PIECES BACK HOME

Two new collection additions were donated recently to the Society for the Preservation of Minneota Heritage (SPMH) by Elizabeth De Baut of St. Louis Park.
De Baut (who changed the spelling of her last name several years ago), a cousin to former Joy Theatre owners Meddard and Alma Debbaut, donated an antique pie cupboard and also a clothes wardrobe that were owned many years ago by her great aunt and uncle, Oscar and Augusta Debbaut, Meddard's parents.
"I just felt those two pieces should be back in Minneota where they belong," Elizabeth said. "I just love those pieces and they were owned by such sweet people."
SPMH President Wendy Sarazyn and her husband, Pat, recently drove to St. Louis Park to pick up the pieces from De Baut, who paid for shipping expenses. They are currently in the Opera Hall above what is now the Minneota Public Library, formerly the Big Store.
"Oscar and Augusta lived on a farm outside of Minneota and then moved into town just down the street from the Big Store building and across from Kerr's Hatchery (now Chasing Our Tails warehouse)," Elizabeth explained. "I remember visiting them and that pie cupboard would be filled with things Augusta had made like cookies in a jar, honey bread that tasted like cake and pies. She kept the cleanest house imaginable."
When Oscar and Augusta passed away, Elizabeth's parents, Frank (their nephew) and Mary, acquired the wardrobe cupboard at an auction. Oscar and Augusta's daughter, Irene Wieme, gained possession of the pie cupboard.
"I remember Oscar and Augusta always kept their Sunday clothes in the wardrobe," Elizabeth recalls. "It's been in an old master bedroom in my home since the 1970s, but I felt it belonged back home in Minneota."
When Elizabeth was considering donating the wardrobe to the SPMH, she felt the pie cupboard should go with it.
"I called Irene to see if she wanted to sell it," Elizabeth said, "So I bought it from her."
The pie cupboard had been painted over several times, so when Elizabeth acquired it, she had it stripped and restored professionally to its original finish.
Elizabeth was born in Tyler and the family lived on a farm nine miles southwest of Minneota in Lincoln County. She and her sister graduated from Ivanhoe High School, while her brother, Francis, went to high school in Minneota and graduated in 1953.
"We lived in Lincoln County but the road to Lyon County divided us," Elizabeth explained.
"My brother went to Minneota, but by the time I was old enough to go to high school, we had to pay for me to go there, so I went to Ivanhoe and graduated in 1961."
With her help, two furniture pieces filled with history are now back in Minneota.
"It's where they belong," she said.