Museum Upgrades

Historical Items Get New Look

Visitors to the newly-remodeled Grand River Historical Society Museum

walk through the facility. Here, Chuck and Becky Shouse study features that typically would have been found in a household kitchen years ago. Private donations were used to complete the $100,000 renovation project.

Grand River Historical Society Museum opened for the season May 1, 2010, with a new look for old items. Renovations that took place over the last several months included building and painting new interior walls, adding insulation, and installing a new heating and air conditioning system, as well as a humidity control system. Displays were rearranged in a period-atmosphere, showing the history of the county. The museum is open to the public from 1 until 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

Museum Renovations on Display

The Grand River Historical Society's season opener is set for Saturday, May 1, from 1 to 4 p.m. New items featured in the renovated museum include a school area with a chalkboard from the old Chillicothe High School.

Some of the renovations include building and painting new interior walls, installing insulation, and a new heating and air conditioning system, as well as a humidity control system. In an effort to make the Grand River Museum more accessible to the public, the displays have been opened up to allow traffic to flow into the display area to check out all the artifacts up close, such as the railroad display.

Renovations Evident at Museum

In an effort to make the Grand River Historical Society Museum more accessible to the public, the displays have been opened up to allow traffic to flow into the display to check out all the artifacts up close, such as the railroad display.

The Grand River Historical Society's museum season opener is set for this Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. According to Marvin Holcer, president of the historical society, after months of renovations, the museum is now more accessible to the public, user-friendly to the local education system and less expensive to operate. Changes were underway behind the museum's closed doors this winter, beginning in late November. Some of the renovations include building and painting new interior walls, installing insulation and a new heating and air conditioning system, as well as a humidity control system.

"One of the major goals was the controlled climate," said Holcer. "Frank Stark and John Neil (past president and curator for the museum) laid the ground work and we've just kicked it up a notch so that we can preserve our museum and preserve our artifacts."

Museum Transformation A $100,000 renovation project at the Grand River Historical Society's museum is well underway and officials say that the facility will be more user-friendly, less expensive to operate and more accessible to the public when the project is complete.

Museum Gets Big Upgrade

In an effort to make the Grand River Historical Society's museum more accessible to the public, user-friendly to the local education system and less expensive to operate, huge changes are under way behind the facility's closed doors this winter. The $100,000 project, which began last fall, started in earnest in late November to early December. It is being funded by private donations which have been given to the historical society over the years and marks the first remodeling project the museum has experienced in 20 years.

According to Marvin Holcer, president of the historical society, some of the renovations include building and painting new interior walls, installing insulation and a new heating and air conditioning system, as well as a humidity control system. The building at 1401 Forest Drive will also house new lights and a new lower ceiling. The facility also has been completely rewired.

A conference room and an office space will be added by the time the project is complete, and two-thirds of storeroom space will have been converted into display space. The building will also be totally handicapped accessible, Holcer said.

According to Jerry Nibarger, historical society treasurer, the project, when complete, will turn the museum into a period-style museum which will, in effect, tell the history of the Grand River area as one walks through the building.