The Cortland Museum is a house that was built in 1883 and sits on the west edge of town. It is the oldest building in Cortland.
It was used as an Oddfellows Hall and Modern Woodman of America Hall for a portion of its life. Later, it was a family home belonging to the William Rohe family. The upstairs was a boarding house and photography studio for many years.
The Rohe family owned it from 1907 to 1994, when Emma Rohe Miller passed away. Norval and Lila Mae Papke purchased and maintained the home as a museum from 1994 to 2021. That had been Emma Rohe Miller’s desire.
They opened the museum in 2003 and had an extensive collection of books, items and paper records that represent the history of the Cortland area.
Board member Donelle Moormeier said after the Papkes passed, the building and the contents were going to be auctioned off.
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“Around September of 2022, Sheila Day and I were at an auction and kept saying, 'What are we going to do? There’s too much history here. We can’t let it go to auction.' So, we convinced them not to auction it,” Moormeier said. “We took out a loan and purchased the building and the contents separately.”
A group of people that had either grown up in or near Cortland or had some ties to the community came together to form a board for the nonprofit organization.
They were able to open three rooms on the main level about a year later. Soon after they were able to open the kitchen.
“The Rohes were wallpaper people, and we found rolls and rolls of vintage wallpaper upstairs,” she said.
Displays of military, agriculture, photography and music are currently scattered in the open rooms, but are exhibits are regularly changed out.
In May 2025, the museum board was able to open the research library. Notebooks of old papers line the bookshelves.
Board member Pam Wollenburg said Lila Mae Papke had put together most of the history books.
“I have a room upstairs and just spend hours and hours going through papers. There are letters that Emma and Eric Miller wrote. When we put all of those together, we are going to have a great story,” she said.
Moormeier said the letters, papers and things at the museum all bring back memories.
“It brings back lots and lots of memories for everybody. And as we talked with some of the older people, we found that they all remember something differently,” she said.
Residents and families will often donate items that demonstrate how Cortland grew through the years.
“Sometimes the people donating don’t even understand what they have, but it has value to the community. There was a wealth of history here, but we have expanded on some of the displays,” Moormeier said.
The women talked about items they had from the post office from 1967 when ZIP codes were introduced. Pam said she wanted to do more research on telephone numbers.
Financial donations from community members, fundraisers like Big Give Gage and their recent baked potato lunch, in addition to grants from sources like the Gage County Foundation, have helped the board put new siding on the house. They added a computer to the library’s research room and put up new ceiling tiles. They have also been able to purchase archival boxes.
Eventually, the museum board would like to open upstairs to visitors. Some of the younger members of the board are making plans to renovate the garage.
Other board members include Sheila Day, Susan Young, Lindsey Oelling, Tim Young and Steve Doolittle.
The museum is open the first Saturday of every month at 340 W. Fourth St. in Cortland. Follow it on Facebook for more information and upcoming events.
