C.G. Therkildsen Activity Center

C. G. Therkildsen Activity Center is open for all residents of Shelby County and surrounding southwest Iowa. The building houses the Shelby County Senior Center and Meal Site and a large multi-purpose activity center. Residents of the area will be encouraged to utilize the building for social, cultural and educational gatherings of all kinds. The facility is truly meant to benefit not only the residents of the Harlan community, but all those living in Shelby County and southwest Iowa from youth to senior citizens.

This multi-purpose facility offers ample space for small, medium and large meetings, conferences, anniversary gatherings and graduations.  The main conference room has directional walls that can be quickly modified to accommodate various size groups.

The C. G. Therkildsen Activity Center is located where the old Harlan High/Middle School building was torn down.  It is on the block between 7th and 8th Streets on the North and South, between Baldwin and Victoria Streets on the East and West. The building is 13,100 square feet in a single story, Prairie-style construction.  The use of Prairie style design, revolutionized by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, was used throughout the center including a low pitched roof, overhanging eaves, horizontal lines, open floor plan, rows of small windows and one-story projections.

Former Harlan resident Charles G. & Joyce Therkildsen, currently residing in the Chicagoland area, donated over $250,000 to the center. Therkildsen is president and owner of Industrial Hard Chrome, Bar Technologies and Fluid Power Manufacturing of Geneva, Illinois.

"The contribution was my way of saying thank you to Harlan and to Shelby County, and the fine educational and quality of life it afforded me during my youth.  Your dream to continuing to improve your community today is a worthwhile venture and I applaud your efforts."  ~C.G. Therkildsen

Would you like to get involved and find out know how you can still be a part?  There is still much we would like to do to enhance the facility and services it offers the community.  Please call 733-1103 for details.  You are also welcome to click here to go to our Contact Form and send us your questions via our web site!