On 20 April 1990, the doors of ‘Streekboerderijmuseum de Locht’ were opened for the first time after a year of hard work by volunteers. The History Melderslo Foundation played an important role in the development of the current Museumdorp de Locht. You can read about the most important developments surrounding the development of de Locht on this page.

Stichting Geschiedenis Melderslo was founded in 1979 by a group of people who had been active in the history of Melderslo since 1973. The foundation recorded the history, made exhibitions and organised activities, including the successful pole vault in the Vlasven. This created a savings pot, which later proved to be very useful for the realisation of the Locht.

In 1987, the foundation organised an exhibition of photos from Melderslo in the corridors of the primary school. As an extension of the exhibition, an exhibition of tools and implements was set up in the gymnasium on the initiative of Piet Lenssen. Piet thought that this exhibition should be permanent and launched the idea of ​​turning it into a museum. Chairman Harry Litjens was immediately enthusiastic and made contacts with the municipality, which also showed interest.

In September 1988, the board of Stichting Geschiedenis Melderslo agreed to further develop and realise the idea of ​​establishing a museum. The first priority was to find a location, which ultimately led to the farm of Sef Gubbels on the Koppertweg. With the help of the municipality, the Cultural Fund of the Bouwfonds Nederlandse Gemeenten, the savings pot of Stichting Geschiedenis Melderslo and the village community that collaborated on the restoration, the plans were finalised and the farm could be purchased.

The restoration started on Carnival Tuesday 1989. The entire year was spent working hard, everyone in addition to their own work or company and also during holidays. Volunteers spent a total of 5400 hours of their own labour and 300 hours of organisation and administration on the restoration. In the meantime, on 24 November 1989, Harry Litjens and Piet Lenssen established the Stichting Streekboerderijmuseum “DE LOCHT” in Melderslo. At the beginning of 1990, hard work was done to have the restoration completed in time for the opening on 20 April 1990. The festive opening of the museum, during which mayor Romé Fasol and deputy Hilhorst unveiled the revolving plough, received the necessary publicity. The museum was immediately well-visited in the first months after the opening.

Since its opening, 35 years ago, De Locht has grown in size, quality and reputation. The museum has become an indispensable part of Melderslo, the municipality of Horst aan de Maas and North Limburg and has developed into an authentic museum village. Unique to Museum de Locht is that it has been 100% the work of volunteers for 35 years. There are more than 250 volunteers active for the museum and with this the museum fulfils, in addition to an informative and cultural function, a very important social function for the region.