Sunday Feb 05
Pinckneyville Post
 
    

Weather

45°
7°
°F | °C
Clear
Humidity: 76%
Sun
Chance of Rain
29 | 48
-1 | 8
Mon
Clear
29 | 49
-1 | 9
Tue
Mostly Sunny
31 | 49
0 | 9
Wed
Chance of Snow
29 | 41
-1 | 5

Your News

Like it? Share it!

Login

GRANT TO HELP FUND TWO MUSEUMS

Rate this item
(4 votes)

BY JEFF SMYTH

Initiatives to establish two museums in Pinckneyville were bolstered March 22 when the city received a $750,000 grant from the state of Illinois. The money will be divided equally by the Illinois Rural Heritage Museum and the Illinois High School Basketball Hall of Fame and Museum, according to Tibretta Reiman.

Reiman is general manager of the Foundation for Pinckneyville, a non-profit organization serving as the financial pivot point for both projects. The money was granted to Pinckneyville under the Community Development Assistance Program (CDAP), a federally-funded program administered by Illinois Department of Economic Opportunity (IDEO). It must go to a local government entity but the Foundation will direct the funds, Reiman said.

Both museums are in the development stages, but city and civic leaders foresee them as a means of reviving the economy of a city that sits in the center of a county saddled with double-digit unemployment.

“I love talking about the future because that is where we are going to live,” Mayor Joe Holder said.

Charlie Greer, president of the Heritage Museum, said this project will encompass 23,700 square feet of space in three buildings. He provided an oral walking tour that included an entry area in which horses, “the source of power in the 1800s,” will be housed. Other rooms will include a 1930s farm house replete with authentic wall calendars, a one room schoolhouse, steam machines and a display of the early gas engine age. The museum is expected to open next year.

Rural Heritage will be located north of the Perry County Fairgrounds. The two largest buildings were sold by Holder to the Foundation in late 2008 for $250,000, according county records. Greer said the third building will be constructed. Greer said the museum is currently leasing the buildings from the Foundation with a purchase option.

Greer estimates it will require $1.2 million to open the museum. He said it will need to attract 20,000 visitors annually to sustain it.

The High School Basketball Hall of Fame will be located in the 26,000-square-foot of the former McDaniel’s Furniture building on The Square. The museum began leasing the building in December 2009 with an option to buy. Owner Mark McDaniel said the asking price is $325,000.

Dick Corn, executive director of the museum, said the Hall of Fame will celebrate the tradition of boys’ and girls’ high school basketball throughout the state.

“This area is a hotbed of high school basketball,” Corn said, adding that Pinckneyville reflects that enthusiasm.

Corn said the original cost estimate to open the doors of the museum was $850,000, but said he believes it could ultimately be more in the range of $1 million.

The former Pinckneyville Panther coach said he hasn’t begun to collect the bulk of the memorabilia to fill the building but was encouraged that it won’t be too hard to amass.

“I spoke with people from the Indiana High School Hall of Fame and they said that, once you get the word out, you’ll have more than you need to fill the displays,” Corn said. (view Indiana's High School Basketball Hall of Fame at www.hoopshall.com)

The Basketball Hall of Fame has a blue-chip advisory committee – all with Illinois ties – including Duke University head coach Mike Krzysewski, Utah Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan, former NBA star Doug Collins and Harlem Globetrotters' owner Mannie Jackson. Its board of directors includes Corn, John Shotton, Rich Herrin, Tom Hawkins, Ill. State Sen. David Luechtefeld, Joe Wiley and Staci Starkweather.

IDEO director Warren Ribley, who attended high school Olney while Corn coached there, was in town to make the announcement. He said he was “taken aback” when Corn entered his office last year with others from the Pinckneyville contingent there to appeal for grant money. He told the crowd of 60-plus gathered at the McDaniel's Furniture building that he hoped Corn wouldn't tell them about what kind of student he was.

The museums are included in the Pinckneyville Vision Committee’s plan to improve the community.

           

           

           

           

           

           

           

           

             

Leave a comment

Make sure you enter the (*) required information where indicated.
Basic HTML code is allowed.

back to top