VOLGA – The Brookings County Historical Society has received a $100,000 bequest from the estate of Trygve A. Trooien, an Oak Lake farmer who died April 5, 2015.

Trooien, 65, was well known for his award-winning Holstein cattle, his interests in the history of agriculture, and as an expert and avid collector of antique farm equipment and other farm related memorabilia.

In his will he requested his gift be used to add another building on the society’s county museum campus in Volga.

Historical Society President Harold Christianson of Volga said the board, in gratitude and recognition of Trooien’s contribution, will use the funds as he requested.

Planning is under way to build what will be the Trygve A. Trooien South Dakota Horse Drawn Museum, with construction expected to start in early spring as weather allows.

The new museum will display examples of horsepowered equipment and conveyances, some of which are already part of the museum collection, and others that are recent gifts from Trooien’s collection.

It is planned that the museum will also house other related items, such as local photographs and other historical, workhorse related equipment.

“We look forward to honoring Mr. Trooien’s wishes and to develop what we hope will be a unique and fitting memorial to his life’s work, his interests in local rural history, and his many rural life accomplishments,” Christianson said.

He said the Trygve A. Trooien Horse Drawn Museum will be the first of its kind in the state specifically honoring the faithful work horse, which was so vital for this area’s agricultural growth and development from the late 1880s through the post-war years.

In the 1920 census, South Dakota recorded nearly 638,000 people and more than 820,000 horses.

Among Trooien’s many interests was participating in threshing bees featuring his Belle City threshing machine. He also sponsored and participated in other hands-on activities on his farm and elsewhere demonstrating how in times past the farmer, the horse and farm equipment worked in concert, Christianson noted.

His humor was personified by his unique farm overall collection that gained international fame.

Trooien was a frequent visitor to, and admirer of, the Brookings County Museum.

The $100,000 building will be sited on museum property north of the historical society’s main building that was constructed from gifts in 1963 in Volga’s City Park.

With the Trygve Trooien building, the county museum’s complex will include six buildings, including a one-room fully-equipped schoolhouse and an 1879 log cabin.

Trooien was born in Hendricks, Minn., on Feb. 17, 1950, and graduated from Astoria High School in 1968. He served in the Army from 1969 to 1972, including a tour in Vietnam, where he was subjected to the chemical Agent Orange, which contributed to his declining health.            

He was honorably discharged and returned to his beloved dairy farming on the shores of Oak Lake in northeast Brookings County, where he was living at the time of his death.