 After the Mennonite Heritage and Agricultural Museum was established, it came to include many display cases which traced the lineage and descendants of the first settlers. The first building to be included in the museum complex was the Gossel Preparatory School, which was constructed in 1906. In later years, it served as the high school industrial arts classroom until the 1970s. The proposed demise of this building sparked the idea of a museum and led to the building being moved to its current site.