Topic starter
25/10/2009 7:26 pm
Hello Fellow Steamboat Enthusiasts!
My Name is Taylor Abbott and I post on here today with exciting news out of Clarington, Ohio. Currently, a group of people with a passion for preserving our river heritage are toiling away on a project that has been in the making well over a decade. Exploratory meetings were formed at the beginning of the year and after much discussion and feedback, our museum has now become a reality that is projected to open it's doors in June 2010.
We have acquired a building by what many call "luck." While looking for a facility to house our museum and its contents, we were asked to attend a board of trustees meeting at the Ohio Valley Community Credit Union. During the meeting, the board offered us their former bank headquarters building. With newly installed security, total revitalization, and more, we were offered their former branch office for $1 per year with all utilities covered. In the lease, we have control over the interior of the property to do whatever we see fit to make it a quality facility. But as I said earlier, the building is totaly renovated with minor lighting upgrades needed. The two story office complex is a wonderful location to house our objects. Situated in downtown Clarington with an emphasis to be put on the riverfront that is seen from the building, the location could not be better! We are very grateful and humble for the Ohio Valley Community Credit Union's generosity.
Our officers have been elected to serve out a one year term. President of Museum and Director-Taylor Abbott. Curator and Finance Committee Chair, Barbara Rush. Historian, Fredrick McCabe. We have been leading this group of extremely talented and devoted people who are set on bringing this museum to our area. Clarington was a vital and notable boat building town. Our town and county has not forgotten this.
Finalization of documents and affairs are completed and our occupancy is set for November 1st. We will begin minor cosmetic changes and lighting upgrading to accomadate specialty displays. A chair lift is also in the works at the present time and hope to have it installed sometime this winter. We are looking for quotes on display cases and if you have any suggestions please contact us with them. We welcome anyone wishing to donate or loan any items for display to contact us. Our main entry will feature all things "steamboat" and welcome any items detailing that idea!
Finance Committee members have been researching and have found some private donors as well as corporate donors wanting to grant money. We are very optimistic about our project and look forward to its opening. Again we welcome ANYONE who would love to help with this project. It is not just a project that highlights Monroe County, OH river life, we want to preserve the steamboat age altogether. We cannot stress that enough and hope to attract river enthusiasts to our area.
Contacts Us If You Have Any Questions:
Facebook users: type Monroe County River Museum in the search bar. Join Us for museum updates, news, and meeting details!
Taylor Abbott............1-740-391-6304
Barbara Rush.............1-740-458-1873
Fred McCabe.............1-740-483-2490
I'd like to take this oppurtunity to Thank each of you for preserving this heritage we all share. As a young man not quite twenty-one yet, I am very fortunate to have been exposed to this heritage by my great-grandfather. Too many people my age look past the past. I choose not to. This project has a special place in my heart and I welcome you all to help in anyway you can to make sure it becomes a reality. Be a part of this wonderful project!
Thank You Again!
Taylor Abbott, President
Monroe County River Museum
25/10/2009 8:50 pm
Welcome to steamboats.org, Taylor. It sounds as if y'all are really blessed with much of what you need, and this board is a good place to solicit advice.
I also urge you to join (if you have not already) the Sons & Daughters of Pioneer Rivermen, which holds their annual meeting in Marietta, OH. Clarington resident J. Mack Gamble was very influential in this orgainzation, as I'm sure you are aware. Again, welcome and good luck!
Topic starter
25/10/2009 9:31 pm
Thank You
Hi Bob,
Yes we are very blessed and fortunate to have the people we have working on this project right now. I am very familiar with Mack Gamble. My great aunt Ede Weisman cared for him for quite some time leading up to his death. If you are familiar with Fred McCabe, he and I are great friends. We've been connected all of my life and he has been very instrumental in gettting this museum established. He owns the second largest privately owned collection of river items, pictures, etc. He will be very helpful in loaning items to display in our museum. I have quite a collection myself and have agreed to loan them all items I have.
We will still need other items and am hoping the Ohio River Museum could assist us in loaning some items to us for display for a period of time. We will be working on that soon. Our first priority is to upgrade our lighting in some areas as well install our chairlift. We should be finished with all of these sometime in February or March hopefully.
Please, if you have any ideas, suggestions, or pieces that we might be able to display on loan, let us know. We're wanting as many involved as we can!
Thanks Again Bob.
Regards from Clarington to All,
Taylor Abbott
26/10/2009 12:48 am
Glad to hear things are going so well at Clarington and the Monroe County Museum. The building seems to be a real stroke of luck for your group, you are very lucky. Also my thanks for presenting the information on the museum at our recent Saturday S & D business meeting. A lot of good comments followed your presentation.
Topic starter
26/10/2009 2:34 am
Hi Bill,
Thanks go to you and other S&D officers for allowing me to speak on behalf of the museum committee. We're very proud of the work we've accomplished thus far, and hope to keep it going. Things have slowed presently as we finalized all documents and paperwork before our lease begins November 1st. Our next meeting is this Thursday at 7pm. at the facility in Clarington.
I spoke with Fred this evening and I'll be sure to let him know I spoke with you. He'll be glad to hear that we're getting the word out on here. He doesn't have a computer but relies on me to update him on river happenings. Can't complain about that though, I enjoy all the river news I can get!
Hope to see you up our way when we're ready for opening!
Thanks again Bill,
Taylor
Topic starter
31/10/2009 5:11 am
Update from Oct. 29th Meeting
During our recent public meeting with a large group on hand, several topics were discussed. Those topics included our 501(c)3 application, inventory management, and where to place our huge 40 ton engine from the boat Tennessee.
As for our 501(c)3, our application will begin in the coming weeks and is expected to take less than a year to complete. Until then, we are under the Monroe County's Arts Council's 501(c)3 which will help us to secure funding while our application is processed. We are more than happy to wait out this process for the simple fact that once we have it in place, our funding options and chances expand greatly. Without the Arts Council's help and our parent organization Team Monroe, this could not be possible. We are also indebted to the many volunteers and supporters who have been turning out from our county and offering any assistance possible.
Eileen Maienknecht and her husband Norman are our committee members who are spearheading inventory management and procurement. Along with myself, Barbara Rush, Curator and Fred McCabe, Historian, we are currently considering a couple of different types of methods. In the coming months we will be selecting the better of the choices and purchasing software to keep our records efficient and at the click of a mouse. A great deal of thanks goes to our new member Jane Williams, a native of Monroe County, who moved back to our area from Washington in order to assist us. She has been credited with directing, curating and founding over 100 museums in Montana, Washington, and N. Dakota. With her expertise and experience, we are very fortunate to garner her assistance.
A large task at hand stands to be debated furthermore at our next meeting. One of our attractions that has been donated to us is a 40 ton engine from the Tennessee. The engine is currently being renovated and is about to have a final layer of protectant applied to it. A tentative location has been selected for the near future at the Broken Timbers Park at the mouth of Sunfish Creek in Clarington. The park is going to be excavated soon to level and ready the land installment of bathrooms, showers, a fishing platform, and more. These projects are taking more time, as they should, so as to place them in the most appropriate areas. With the engine's immense size, Clarington's City Council and Museum Committee must meet to discuss its final location and installment.
Our Inventory Committee is also wanting to put the word out about acquiring items for loan or donation to our museum for display. We are looking for items that pertain to steamers such as the Liberty, Senator Cordill, General Wood, General Pershing, City of Wheeling, and more but not limited to just them. We ask for these particular boats due to their importance and impact on Monroe County. If anyone would like to donate or loan items like these to our museum, please contact us. Models, bells, whistles, and more are what we are looking to acquire on a loan or donation basis if anyone would be willing to do so. Our loan and donor agreement forms have been drawn up and finalized for this specific purpose. Our lease begins effective November 1st at midnight once our insurance coverage starts. We hope to begin acquiring, catalogging, and documenting this items after that date. Please contact us if you have any suggestions, items, or else that we might be able to utilize.
I thank you all again for your continued support and hope to see you guys in Clarington, Ohio when we have our opening! I can't tell you how excited and enthusiastic we are about this project. Please feel free to contact us anytime to pick our brain or answer any questions!
1-740-391-6304 or 1-740-458-1873
31/10/2009 7:54 am
Taylor,
How many years were you able to secure the lease for with the credit union?
Topic starter
31/10/2009 3:43 pm
Our lease is a renewable, all utilities paid, five year lease. The Ohio Valley Community Credit Union previously used this building as their main branch office. After twenty plus years, they moved their main office ten miles south of Clarington to the town of Hannibal, Oh.
Once in Hannibal, they constructed a new building out of flood range and continued using the Clarinton office as a drive thru. The Clarington facility which will house our museum, is a two story building with the main floor being located well above flood stage. This is where all of our main exhibits and attractions will be located to keep everything away from flood waters.
Our facility is still used as a "drive thru only" system with the tellers and banking establishment completely sealed off from the rest of the building in a small room that can only accessed from outside, not within. Since they remodeled and renovated the security, electricity, and such, our building is in excellent condition. We plan to increase and upgrade lighting in some areas as well as replace some baseboards. Since OVCCU has no future plans for the building other than its small drive thru, we are free to utilize whatever means necessary to upgrade anything needed for museum quality. But all in all, we have a very pleasing to the eye building to work with only a stones throw from the river.
If you have any more questions, let me know I'll be glad to answer them.
Topic starter
07/11/2009 8:22 pm
Lease Has Been Signed!
Yesterday, the chairs of our museum committee met with the Ohio Valley Community Credit Union officials. During the media day, our lease was signed with proof of our insurance in place and more! The facility has been turned over to us and we will begin our minor upgrades soon. We can't thank OVCCU enough for their generosity!
Our loan and donor forms are nearing completion after further review by legal representatives who oversee our documents. We will be posting on here periodically to update steamboats.org members about our progress. Let the work begin!
Topic starter
14/11/2009 1:31 am
Trivia Question
I received an email this morning regarding a speaker giving a quick history lesson at a luncheon earlier this week. While speaking, he told of President Lincoln traveling on the old National Road from Maryland to Wheeling, WV. He stated that once he arrived by carriage in Wheeling, the President toured the Suspension Bridge and immediately following, took a steamboat from Wheeling to Illinois where he disembarked from his journey. The problem is, the speaker failed to mention what the name of this boat was. It has been speculated that it was a local Wheeling area boat, but I am unsure. First time I ever heard tale of this...Anyone have any info on this???
The Museum committees are now beginning to itemize lists of supplies needed that grant monies will cover. We should have these things in order by the end of the year.
If anyone on here knows of or has any items that we may utilize, we would be glad to hear from you and exhibit your item. The MC River Museum currently is searching for items that relate to the "Liberty" or Clarington, OH. Once we finish with these projects, we will be moving on to other steamboats and interests. If anyone has any suggestions or knows of where we can find these items, please let us know. Thanks again folks!