Aberdeen Museum to share new home

By Erika Gebhardt The Daily World • March 11, 2022 12:00 pm
Artifacts of the Aberdeen Museum of History, which have been stored at a warehouse in the Port Industrial Area, will soon be moved to a city-owned building in downtown Aberdeen. According to Museum Board President John Shaw, pre-approved volunteers will be used during the relocation process. THE DAILY WORLD I FILE PHOTO
Artifacts of the Aberdeen Museum of History, which have been stored at a warehouse in the Port Industrial Area, will soon be moved to a city-owned building in downtown Aberdeen. According to Museum Board President John Shaw, pre-approved volunteers will be used during the relocation process. THE DAILY WORLD I FILE PHOTO

The Aberdeen Museum of History officially has a new home. The city of Aberdeen closed its purchase of the old Salvation Army building in downtown Aberdeen for $350,000 on Feb. 23.

While over $1.6 million in renovations are anticipated for the building in the 100 block of West Wishkah Street, the city will also be playing the role of landlord for the foreseeable future.

The Salvation Army Food Distribution Center will remain in its current location at 118 W. Wishkah St., while the city and the Aberdeen Board of Museum and History work to prepare the new museum space for collection storage and future community engagement.

“A requirement of the purchase and sale agreement is that the city of Aberdeen and the Salvation Army have agreed and signed a lease. The terms of the lease that I’ve been asked about is the 12-month lease with the two six-month extension options. That is at the request of the Salvation Army, there is no option for the city to break that lease,” said Aberdeen Parks and Recreation Director Stacie Barnum.

The City Council authorized Mayor Pete Schave to sign the commercial lease with the Salvation Army in their Feb. 9 meeting. The lease is for a 2,500 square foot space on the first floor of the building.

The food pantry will remain in its current location while the Salvation Army Aberdeen Corps renovates their local headquarters.

“It’s really about allowing them to keep the food pantry open for a while during the transition,” said Aberdeen Board of Museum and History President John Shaw. “I don’t see continuing the food pantry to be an issue with moving forward with the building work.”

According to Shaw, the board will begin utilizing approved volunteers in the next month as they start their transition out of the Port Industrial area and into the city-owned building. They are also in the process of working with the city to apply for a grant from the Heritage Capital Projects Fund, which provides state funding for heritage building projects such as new facilities, renovations of existing ones, and maintenance of historic structures.

The first submission for the grant is due on April 14, but awardees won’t be notified until July 2023, according to Barnum.

“There’s things that we can do in the building to begin the remodel while that space is being leased,” she said. “Of course, we’ll have to modify what that would look like, but I wouldn’t say that we can’t remodel.”