May 1, 2002

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, contact:  Maxine Moul, 402-323-7331

Robert Harm Gift to Benefit Bloomfield Museum, Events Center

(Bloomfield)  A life-long interest in Bloomfield’s early history and county fair activities have led a former Bloomfield area resident, Robert Harm of Richardson, Texas, to make generous gifts to the Bloomfield Community Historical Society and the proposed multi-purpose agriculture center at the Knox County Fairgrounds.  They are the first major donations to both entities.

These gifts continue a long history of giving by Harm’s family and friends to the Knox County community. 

Harm has made a gift of land from the family ranch along Lewis and Clark Lake to a donor-advised fund at the Nebraska Community Foundation.  The Bloomfield Historical Society will receive $50,000 and $200,000 will go to provide the lead gift for the proposed multi-purpose center.

The historical society’s museum is in the former Bloomfield Public Library.  When the library was built many years ago, Robert’s father, William Henry Harm, donated the lot for it.  Among the first items selected for the museum was the dress worn to the local opera by Harm’s mother, Julia Tulleys Harm.

“I am just plain interested in seeing Bloomfield’s early history preserved and thought the museum needed some financial assistance,” Harm said.

Janet Eckmann, secretary of the historical society, said the organization is just two years old, and this is its first major gift.  The society plans to place the $50,000 on permanent investment, and will use the interest earnings from the endowment for needed equipment.   On their wish list are supply cabinets, a computer, copy machine, glass enclosed shelves and window shades to give ultra-violet protection to the museum’s collection.  The society hopes that other residents and former residents will consider making additional donations to the endowment, so that they can continue to make improvements to the museum.

“This is the only former Carnegie Library in Nebraska being used as a museum,” Eckmann said.  The society is working with the Nebraska State Historical Society and hopes to get the museum building on the National Register of Historic Places.  The museum is not yet open, but the society plans to open the doors to the public this summer.

The multi-purpose agriculture center will be used for rodeos, but also for a myriad of other activities, according to Sunny Nagengast of Bloomfield, who serves on the Knox County Agriculture Building Committee with Steve Archbold and Jolene Greckel, also of Bloomfield.

A variety of activities would revolve around horses and cattle, but could also include antique shows, farm and home shows, tractor and farm machinery events and other family-related programs, she said.  It would be similar to a building at the fairgrounds at Broken Bow.

The cost of the building is expected to be about $380,000, plus site preparation and other costs.  The total fund-raising goal is $500,000.  When the building is completed, it will be turned over to the City of Bloomfield for their ownership, Nagengast said.  A board will be appointed to run the facility.

“Our goal is to have the building be self-supporting and to bring new funds into the community.  We want to generate new money and tourism to Knox County,” Nagengast said.

Robert’s father and another early Bloomfieldite, Ed H. Mason, donated the land for the fairgrounds many years ago.

“My principal motivation for this gift was to honor my father and uncle, Paul A. Tulleys.  They instituted an early day real estate and banking firm in Bloomfield.  They were instrumental in bringing in many new settlers for the land in the Bloomfield area and operated the Farmers and Merchants State Bank from 1907 to the crash in 1929,” Harms said.

William Harm arrived in the area before Bloomfield was incorporated, as a young, single German immigrant herding cattle in the vicinity, along with a partner, Robert Alexander of Plainview.  William Harm was an early benefactor to the community in many other ways. “I am the last Harm of my generation.  Both of my brothers and my sister are deceased.  I decided it was up to me to do this,” Robert Harm said.

He is hopeful the ag center committee will name the new building “The Harm and Tulleys Agriculture Center.”  Nagengast said that request has already been approved by the building committee.

The Harm family moved to the gifted land along the Missouri River in 1933.  It was the Depression, and “my father was broke and there was nothing in town for him, so somehow he made a down payment on a portion of what is now the ranch, and started over,” Harm said.

Robert Harm operated the ranch from 1951, after his father’s death, until 1986, when he retired.  The ranch “was one of the most beautiful places in Northeast Nebraska, in my opinion,” Harm said.  “Over the years, I endeavored to make it better by ways of conservation.”  He was presented with the first Nebraska State Grassland Award for his efforts.  After his retirement, Harm married Dorothy Hafner, the widow of one of his high school classmates, and moved to her home in Richardson, Texas.  She died in 1992.

Harm would like to see other Knox County residents and former residents consider charitable gifts to the organizations they support in their community.  “If you want to make a gift, the way this was handled is a good way to do it.  The sale of my ranch and the legal expertise of my lawyer, Steve Archbold, made it possible,” he said.

“Robert’s gift consisted of highly appreciated land.  He was able to give the land as a charitable gift to the Nebraska Community Foundation and designate its use for the projects in Bloomfield,” Archbold said.

“The key is that Robert did not have to pay capital gains tax on the land appreciation.  On top of that, Robert will obtain a charitable deduction on his income tax bill.  So by using the tax laws to his advantage, Robert was able to make a tremendous gift to the community and at the same time, help himself through a substantial income tax deduction,” Archbold said.

“Overall, his foresight will make a wonderful difference for the Bloomfield area.  This method of gifting works best with appreciated property.  Hopefully, more people will notice what Robert did and follow his lead,” he said.

Jolene Greckel pointed to the positive message the Harm gift sends for Bloomfield.  “Our motto for Bloomfield’s centennial year in 1990 was ‘Pride in the Past, Faith in the Future,” she said.  Two Bloomfield organizations now have good reason for faith in their future.

The Nebraska Community Foundation works with donors and communities throughout Nebraska, to help residents and former residents give charitable donations to their hometowns.  It serves community, organization and donor-advised funds operating in 177 communities in 73 counties.

The Bloomfield Community Foundation affiliated with the Nebraska Community Foundation in August 2000.  Steve Archbold of Bloomfield is the local contact for the Bloomfield Foundation.

For additional information on making charitable gifts to your hometown, contact the Nebraska Community Foundation at 402-323-7330, or visit its website at www.nebcommfound.org.

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