PCYC Founder Recalls Early History 

By Eddie Carter

Paster Ham Muus, now retired, founded numerous organizations.

Most importantly, he is the original founder of PCYC and Wilderness Canoe Base up in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern Minnesota .

In addition to Wilderness Canoe Base and PCYC the organization also founded Frontier Farm and Kinship.  Frontier Farm is a group home for troubled teens, and Kinship is like a peer mentoring program, highly similar to the Big Brothers and Big Sisters mentoring program.

Frontier Farm was eventually sold, while Kinship became a separate organization.

Pastor Bob Evans started working with Ham in 1956; he was the associate Founder/Director.

“We realized there was a need to lift up vision and spirit in the inner city; that’s why we founded so many organizations,” Muus said.

PCYC was created in 1954 and was originally located at 322 Plymouth Avenue North . It remained there until it was forced to move in 1969, due to the building of Interstate Highway 94.

“We nickeled and dimed it to get the funding we needed to get the new site at 2301 Oliver,” said Muus.

Bob Evans eventually moved on to Prince of Glory Church, and Pastor Curt Johnson continued working with Muus at PCYC. 

Muus eventually moved on to work with the Southeast Minnesota district youth and outdoor education. After Muus left the organization, Johnson became Executive Director.

Pastor Muus has been “happily married” 56 “wonderful years.”  He and his wife, Pearl Muus, have three children, Nathan, 50; Jeff, 47; and Solveig, 45; all from Minnesota and part of early PCYC history.