Prairie Arts Center in North Platte, NE and Historic Canteen District

June 25, 2023

We continued our ride to the Prairie Arts Center in North Platte, NE. We arrived in the Historic Canteen district and parked the motorcycle in the Prairie Arts Center parking lot.

We walked into the building from the parking lot. The volunteer at the desk was welcoming and explained what was on the different floors. The entire building was in use, from the basement to the third floor.

The first floor is used for display and is a gallery. The second floors has a catering kitchen and a large open room in the middle. It also has a balcony. The second floor areas can be rented for parties. The third floor has studios for artists to rent. The basement is where art classes are held and the pottery kilns are.

We headed up to the second floor, up a marble and brass stairway. One side had the brass handrail and the other side had new wooden handrails.

There wasn’t much to see on the second floor. There was some artwork along the hallway and salvaged stain glass windows on display.

The third floor had a room dedicated to the Western painter, Ted Long. The room contains the Ted Long’s first painting and the last painting he was working on. The walls resemble a log cabin.

We walked around the third floor, looking at the artwork on the walls. We then headed downstairs to the first floor to see the art show.

I didn’t take any pictures of the art show. There was photos, paintings and sculptures.

We headed downstairs to the basement. A dragon had been painted on the stairwell wall. Various quotes about imagination had also been painted on the wall. The basement was set up for classes and we also saw the kilns.

I was curious about the building since it was so beautiful and I asked the volunteer about the building. The volunteer was very proud of the building. It was finished in 1913 to be a post office and a federal office building. The building had been rotting away before it was restored.

The team doing the restoration did not use any government money. They did get some private grants. The large windows, costing thousands of dollars, had small plaques under them, thanking the donors.

She said they started by having art classes in the basement, which allowed funds to come in. Once people saw the value, they were able to get donations to restore the building.

I purchased pencils and a soft pencil case from their shop since I had lost my beautiful wooden pencil box. I am looking forward to drawing again.

We walked around the Historic Canteen area.

It was a fun walk around and we headed back to the motorcycle. After gearing up, we rode back to the RV. Nox was happy to see us.