HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PALM BEACH COUNTY TO CREATE
HISTORY MUSEUM IN RESTORED 1916 COUNTY COURTHOUSE
PALM BEACH, Fla. (August, 2003)--- The Historical Society
of Palm Beach County will create the area’s first
county-wide history museum inside the to-be-restored 1916
county courthouse in downtown West Palm Beach. In February
2003, Palm Beach County’s Board of County Commissioners
voted unanimously to grant space to the organization to
house its headquarters and the museum on the third and fourth
floors of the historic courthouse. Expected to be completed
sometime in 2006, the 18,000 sq.-ft. museum will be free
to every Palm Beach County resident. Restoration of the
courthouse is expected to begin in early 2004.
After a decades-long battle to save the historic
1916 courthouse from demolition, led by numerous community
preservationists and Historical Society members, the Board
of County Commissioners voted in April 2002 to preserve
and share the building with the public. The opportunity
paved the way for the Historical Society to request space
for the county’s first museum. Since its creation
in 1937, the organization has lacked a permanent home and
enough space to display its vast collection of historical
photographs, documents and artifacts, documenting over 12,000
years of Palm Beach County and Florida history. To date,
Palm Beach County is the only large county in Florida without
its own history museum.
Once completed, Palm Beach County’s
history museum will include over 3,000 sq.-ft. of permanent
gallery space, featuring state-of-the art, interactive exhibits
designed to engage both children and adults. The exhibits
will reflect the influence of every culture in Palm Beach
County’s diverse history, from the earliest Native
American inhabitants to the present day. Nearly 700 sq.-ft.
of gallery space will be dedicated to temporary and traveling
exhibits, many on display from the county’s other
historical organizations.
Centrally located inside the museum, the two-story,
2,897 sq.-ft. restored courtroom will illustrate the county’s
legislative and judicial history and provide area students
with the opportunity to learn about their local government.
The Historical Society will also include a library accessible
by the public for historical research. The remaining space
will be used for archives and the organization’s offices.
“The 1916 county courthouse is one of
the most historic and important landmarks to Palm Beach
County, and particularly to downtown West Palm Beach,”
said Harvey Oyer III, President of the Historical Society
of Palm Beach County. “Locating a county-wide museum
within its walls will help to fill the void in the county’s
cultural landscape and provide a unique venue that celebrates
the importance of Palm Beach County history. Ultimately,
the museum will help serve as a catalyst of economic, cultural
and educational growth, attracting thousands of student
and adult visitors each year and encouraging business development
in the area.”
Palm Beach County will pay for the $18.5 million
required to restore the 1916 courthouse. Based on the lease
agreement to be signed with the county, the Historical Society
has committed to pay for the build-out of the museum’s
galleries and exhibits and the $700,000 estimated annual
operating expenses. The county has agreed to provide most
of the space to the Historical Society for free. The two-year
restoration project on the courthouse is expected to begin
this winter, when the 1970’s façade entombing
the original courthouse is “unwrapped.”
For more information about the Historical
Society of Palm Beach County and the plans to create Palm
Beach County’s first county-wide history museum, contact
the Historical Society executive director, Loren Mintz,
at (561) 832-4164.
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