Historical society one step closer to a museum
During Tuesday’s Shamong Committee meeting, Marie Kulschinsky, a member of the Indian Mills Historical Society, announced the group is close to purchasing a property to create a museum.
The museum site, located at 354 Oak Shade Road where a house and Robbie’s Roadstand is, was built around 1890. This would be the first time in the society’s history that it would have its own museum. The society hopes the museum will be used to curate archives and display artifacts from the area, as well as host society meetings.
“The Historical Society formed in 1973,” Kulschinsky said. “We have been looking for a property since then, and we saw this property was for sale. We contacted the Realtor and we made an offer to the owners of the property, who are also local residents. So here we are. We hope to close on it by the end of the month.”
The proposed site will need renovations before it can become the museum the Historical Society envisions. It has reached out to the community and the township for some help. The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts will be helping to clean up the area and do some landscaping. However, there is still some other things that have to be attended to, including funding.
“If anyone wants to donate the materials to build a roof, or even if we have a roofer in the area that can help us with this project, it will help,” Kulschinsky said. “We will probably be doing a lot of gutting inside the interior, refinishing floors, making a kitchenette. We may also have to add a bathroom to be ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant. It is going to be an ongoing process for sure.”
Kulschinsky stated the Society is applying for grants, but it is waiting to receive the money. The Historical Society paid close to $120,000 for the site with funds that was raised through ventures such as its Antique Flea Markets. After the purchase, renovations still have to be completed, but it needs some more help.
“We still have to raise about another $40,000 to $60,000 to complete everything,” Indian Mills Historical Society President Joseph J Reinhart said. “We had issues receiving grants before because we did not have an actual site for our museum.”
“We will see what we can do,” Mayor Tim Gimbel said. “We will be more than willing to help out in any way. I think it is a great thing.”
The township will await the business plan and review what steps it will take to help with the project.
If anyone would like to contribute to the proposed museum site or donate materials, contact the Indian Mills Historical Society at (609) 351–0073.
