By KYLE ODEGARD
Gazette-Times reporter | Posted: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 12:00 am
Work to start in spring on $2.4 million structure to house artifacts, Horner collection
PHILOMATH - The Benton County Historical Society and Museum is looking to break ground this spring on its new $2.4 million collections storage facility.
The building will house the museum's artifacts, as well as 60,000 items from the Horner collection - which are still packed up in the basement of Gill Coliseum at Oregon State University.
"We hope that by the end of the year or the first couple months of '08 that we'll transfer the collection," Pete Johnson, historical society vice president, told the Philomath City Council on Monday night.
Groundbreaking could start in March or April, depending on the weather.
The 13,000-square-foot collections care facility will be northwest of the museum at 1101 Main St. The museum parking lot and driveway also will be paved, more parking spaces added, and the museum's front lawn improved.
According to the society's newsletter, forums on the project are set for 6:30 and 8 p.m. Jan. 24 at the museum.
The storage facility raised the price of the historical society's improvements to $8.1 million.
Included in that is a downtown Corvallis museum, which Johnson said is two to three years away, to showcase items from the former Horner Museum, which OSU closed because of budget cuts.
The historical society decided storing items at its Philomath site would be more efficient than in Corvallis. The museum also was running out of space for its current artifacts.
"We've outgrown this building. Ten years ago, things were tight. For nine years, I've been trying to creatively store things. It's serious," said Mary Gallagher, curator of history and research, in an interview Tuesday.
"At this point, the most important thing is to secure and take care of the collections. The rest can come later," she added.
In other Philomath news:
• A group trying to create a new high school track accepted the city's donation of the old Nazarene parsonage.
The house, recently moved out of the way of the highway couplet, will be renovated by local volunteers and then sold to match a Nike grant for the running track.
The city is seeking $130,000 from the sale of the house. Anything above that, which could be tens of thousands of dollars, would go to the track project.
• The city raised all system development charges 4.2 percent to keep up with construction costs.
• Newly elected members Charlie Crawford and Jerry Jackson Sr. joined the City Council for its first meeting of 2007.
• After Jay Sexton and David Stein lost races for mayor and councilor, respectively, they applied for open committee positions. Instead, the City Council appointed other candidates Monday. Sexton's wife Toni Hoyman also was passed over for a committee position.
Kyle Odegard covers Benton County government, Philomath and rural Benton County. He can be contacted at kyle.odegard@lee.net or 758-9523.