Local Scout's Eagle Project Adds Boardwalk to Ekdahl House

Just one week after the Ekdahl House exhibit of the officially , it has gotten an upgrade courtesy of a local Boy Scout and aspiring Eagle Scout.

Timothy Christian sophomore and Old Town South resident Jack Miller, along with his fellow Troop 12 members, brought shovels, gravel, wood and a determined work ethic to the museum on Saturday to install a boardwalk around the house for easier viewing of the cobbler’s-store tableau inside.

“It’s going to make the museum more accessible,” said Historical Society trustee Vicki Lezon, who was out watching the Scouts work. “Before this, you could walk around, but it was stepping in mud and bad weather, and it wasn’t as welcoming as it might be. This is going to do a lot to really help that.”

In addition to improving the viewing experience for adults, a series of small steps next to each window will allow smaller children to more easily view inside the exhibit.

“It helps out my community, and it’s going to be there for a while,” Miller said of his Eagle project, which he has been working on developing since May.

Completion of an Eagle project, a major community service endeavor that must be planned and organized by the Scout, is a mandatory requirement for becoming an Eagle Scout, the Boy Scouts’ highest honor.

“I had to put together my workbook and plan everything, had to get the costs and supplies, all the building permits, all the signatures,” said Miller. “The hardest part was the paperwork.”

Once all of the logistics were worked out, the manual labor began on Saturday as the Scouts carved a ditch around the museum, then laid down layers of gravel, sleeper boards, the boardwalk itself and finally the stairs by each window.

Miller’s dad, Stuart, admitted there had been a little bit of “butt-kicking” on his end to get this project off the ground—but credited his son for the remarkable accomplishment.

“To see what plan you built actually come to fruition—which I think is the essence of the Eagle project, you’re responsible for doing a project leading other Scouts and seeing it to the end—that’s the cool part about it,” the elder Miller said. “And somebody else benefits from it. This isn’t for the benefit of the Scouts, it’s for the benefit of the community.”

The Ekdahl House was built by cobbler August Ekdahl in 1887 when he moved to the Village from Sweden. It stood at 808 Hillgrove Avenue for years, and has subsequently been relocated and preserved by the Historical Society. It now stands just south of the intersection of 43rd Street and Wolf Road.

“Historical Society volunteers had the vision to save the building in 2008,” said Allyson Zak, president of the Historical Society, in a previous press release. “Since then, our volunteers have worked to restore the building, collect artifacts and prepare to share this exhibit with the community.”

Along with improvements like Miller’s, the Historical Society are looking at other ways to develop the space around the Ekdahl House, including, for instance, a patio or performance stage for dramatic reenactments.

“The idea is to make it much more of a destination spot, just like Tower Green is,” said Lezon.