Ebnet honored with Zapp Historian Award

by Dennis Dalman

David Ebnet, former director of the Stearns History Museum, was recently presented with the annual Zapp Historian Award for his significant contributions to the preservation, interpretation and promotion of central Minnesota’s history.

The award is named in honor of the local Zapp banking family, which supplied funding to help build the current history museum in the early 1980s.

Ebnet worked for the Stearns Historical Society from 1974 to 2008. He served as executive director from 1984-2008.

One of the programs Ebnet initiated is “Century Farms,” for which area farms are recognized and honored for being in the same family lineage for 100 years or more.

Ebnet also developed internships with St. Cloud State University, the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University.

In addition, he succeeded in getting the Stearns History Museum national accreditation with the American Alliance of Museums, and that accreditation was renewed last year for another 10 years.

For Ebnet’s award presentation at the museum, many current and past members (some of them previous Zapp Historian Award recipients) gathered at the museum to congratulate and to thank Ebnet for his long service and passionate dedication to the museum and to the history and heritage of central Minnesota.

In addition to his work at the museum, Ebnet has been active in the St. Cloud Jaycees, St. Cloud Downtown Kiwanis, St. Cloud Area Festival Association and was a charter member and chair of the St. Cloud Heritage Preservation Commission. Ebnet still serves the region as a grant reviewer for the Central Minnesota Community Foundation Programs committee.

The public is invited to a celebration at Stearns History Museum at which Ebnet and many others will be present on the occasion of the museum’s 40th birthday party. It will take place from 1-3 p.m. Saturday, June 29. The museum is located at 235 33rd Ave. S. in St. Cloud.