Our Past Is Present May 24, 2018

May 24, 2018

            You are reading “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.

            Today, we continue with Part 2 of “Becoming The Geary County Historical Society.”

            We pick our story up in the spring of 1982, when Fred Bramlage purchased the old Departmental School Building on the corner of Sixth and Adams Streets in Junction City and gave it to the Geary County Historical Society to be used as a museum location.  The Museum on Seventh Street closed at the end of May 1982 in order to move into the new museum.

            The building, which first opened as the City High School in 1903, also served as Department School before being closed in 1979, which meant that there was a lot of work to do before the building could be used as a museum.  A new roof had to be installed, the outside chemically cleaned and then floors, walls and windows all had to be restructured and rebuilt for museum use.  A new furnace had to be installed.  Gaylynn Childs recalled that the old unit had to be taken out piece by piece in order to install a new furnace. This was done during the night in order that other workers could continue to do their jobs.  A handicapped entrance, elevator, men’s and women’s restrooms had to be installed and asbestos removed.

            The museum opened to the public with only one floor available for exhibits in May 1983 and work continued for the next ten years.  Volunteers created the Main Street Gallery; air conditioning and new furnaces were put in place and eventually all three floors of exhibit space were opened to the Geary County community. 

            Among the people who made the early museum a success were: early curators Annetta Hayes and Ingrid Bierbaum, who planned and created new exhibits from the ground up as construction on the museum building continued and Gaylynn Childs tirelessly created exciting programs and raised money to make the museum and historical society the best it could be.” 

            If it has been a while since you have visited the museum on the corner of Sixth and Adams Streets, please do so.  We have beautiful displays and things to do for young people that will help you better understand why we say “Our Past IS Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.