Meteorite museum adds ‘fresh’ exhibit

The Kansas Meteorite Museum fits the definition of rural tourism — located on a dirt road in a community now identifiable only by a faded name on a grain elevator, with a post office address of a town of about 600, yet it contains some of the most recognizable space rocks on the planet, as well as a piece of the freshest meteorite to fall to earth.

Don Stimpson and his wife Sheila Knepper moved to a farm near Haviland in 1994 and in July 2008 opened the museum that features pieces of the Brenham meteorite he says fell to earth 20,000 years ago as well as his newest acquisition — a small piece of what has become known as the Ash Creek meteorite, circa February 2009.

Meteorites are named for the area in which they fall, Stimson said. Brenham was once a small farming community west of Haviland. Ash Creek runs through the area near West, Texas, where the latest find fell in a fireball captured on video and broadcast on CNN.

Stimpson, a biophysicist, and Knepper, a pharmacologist, worked in Chicago, but have long been interested in meteorites. The Haviland, or Brenham Field, is among three featured in a National Geographic article several years ago. Trips to Kansas and the opportunity to visit with Ellis Peck, who provided much of the documentation for the local meteorites, convinced them this is where they should spend their retirement.

“The only reason we’re here is because of the meteorite and the desire to do something that will outlast us,” Stimpson said.

The couple had also visited Norton, where another meteorite fell. They were disappointed to learn that it has all been sold, with nothing remaining in the area where it was found. That’s the reason for the museum, located west and south of Haviland. They’re open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 6 p.m. and also by appointment.

Stimpson loves to talk about his meteorites. In the late 1800s Frank and Eliza Kimberly were the first to break the sod on their new land in Kiowa County. Stimpson supposes Frank wasn’t very excited about the rocks that kept breaking his plow, but Eliza was certain they were meteorites, which she had studied in school back in Iowa. Scientific excavations were made and the Haviland Meteorite Crater, running about six miles long, was identified.

In 1949, a 1,000 meteorite was dug from the earth and displayed at the Big Well Museum in Greensburg until its destruction in 2007. It is now being stored by the Sternberg Museum at Fort Hays State University until a new facility is built in Greensburg.

The Kimberly Farm was later owned by Peck, who wrote “Space Rocks and Buffalo Grass.” When he died, Stimpson attended his first-ever auction and bought the farm, so he would have access to the Brenham Field. He has found nearly four tons of meteorite, including a 1,500-pound specimen on a neighbor’s farm, which broke into several chunks when excavated. He’s convinced there’s more out there.

There are two types of meteorite hunters, Stimpson said — those who do it only for profit, and at the other extreme, are those who are “just fascinated by this stuff. It’s from outer space, from the astroid belt — it’s unique on this earth.”

For a long time, Stimpson followed the philosophy of the Smithsonian Institution, which does not sell specimens. Then he learned that while the nation’s premier museum complex does not sell, it does trade and artifacts end up on eBay. The distinction seemed small, so Stimpson now sells pieces of meteorites and jewelry and trinkets he creates from them.

He looks forward to the time when his museum can be advertised with a brown Kansas tourism sign on the highway — he has a sign, but people tell him it’s hard to read, although tourists do find their way there. First, the museum has to have 2,000 visitors in a year, and other requirements for restrooms and handicapped accessibility have to be met.

Kansas has a lot of interesting things to see. You have to bring your curiosity and appreciation with you, Stimpson noted.