In 1960, students who had been attending the Slikok Elementary School (the last territorial school, built by local volunteers and opened in 1958) were bused to the new Soldotna Elementary. The Slikok School became the Slikok Valley Community Club until it dissolved, when the school was turned into a museum. Damon Hall was built onto the old Slikok School in 1972 and the two building were separately moved from Poppy Road to the current location of the Homestead Museum off Centennial Park Road.
The museum concept and preservation of homesteading heritage was started in 1962 by Mae Ciechanski and others, without whose generosity and drive there would be no Soldotna Historical Society & Museum, Inc. The Soldotna Historical Society & Museum was officially incorporated on Dec. 24, 1986 with seven incorporates and five board directors. As of 2018, the Society has seven board directors.
