“The Elevator is the Key” to Indiana Museum Expansion

The Goshen Historical Society announced the opening of the public portion of a fundraising campaign dedicated to expanding the use of the Goshen Historical Museum building in Indiana, The Goshen News reports. The campaign will fund the addition of an elevator to the property to reach the second floor, which will be restored. The expected cost is US$350,000 for the elevator and US$150,000 for the restoration project, totaling US$500,000. Constructed in 1888, the building’s upper floor was used as apartments from the very beginning, with rooms occasionally serving as at-home businesses for some of the tenants. With more visitors and people bringing in donations, more space is needed for storage and displays. The elevator is needed to provide access to the space. “The elevator is the key,” said an historical society official. “We have to be able to move people up and down, without going up the 23 steps that lead to Main Street. That’s the only access we have to the upstairs right now.” The addition of the upstairs apartments to the museum’s usable space will add 1,700 ft². The front apartment will function as a walkthrough museum, showing visitors what an apartment may have looked like in 1940, and much of the back apartment, which will be the entrance for the elevator, will be a research and archive area for the museum. DJ Construction has been hired as consultants to map out the project’s initial specifications. The elevator construction will be bid out, along with specialty contractors for HVAC, plumbing, flooring, windows and paint. The Goshen Historical Society hopes to have to project finished in 2025.