Mobile History
The Butler County Historical Society recently bought the C.T. Dumbaugh building at 331 S. Washington St.
Pat Collins, the administrative director of the society, said because of this new acquisition, the society will convert its recently constructed carriage house storage building to museum space and move its collections into the Dumbaugh building.
Collins said the closing on the Dumbaugh building was in April.
The structure became available for purchase and it's right across the parking lot from the society's Lowrie/Shaw House headquarters at 123 W. Diamond St., said Collins.
David Schnur, president of the society's board of trustees, said, “Randy Diehl approached the society about buying the building since it's so close to the main office.”
“We hope to rent out office space in the first and second floors,” said Collins, and use the rest of the building for storage of the society's collections such as its collection of Pullman Standard items.
The society bought the 36-by-100 foot building from Phyllis Diehl for $47,500 using money from a bequest to the society from the late Elizabeth Bauer, who died April 12. She was one of the society's lifetime members, said Collins.
The purchase will not leave the society in debt, said Collins.
“We're going to need to fix up the office space. It needs work to be able to rent it out,” said Collins. “Our hope is that once we get up and running, the carriage house can be used for museum space for our industrial exhibits, the cars, our Armco stuff.
“But the paper archives will remain in the carriage house upstairs. It's climate controlled for the temperature and humidity,” said Collins.
“We'll probably renovate the Dumbaugh building first,” said Schnur. “Once we get the office rented that'll get some income. We could use that to renovate the carriage house.”
Renovation of the Dumbaugh building, Schnur said “means getting the office ready to rent it out. There's not a lot to do with the storage space really.”
Ground was broken on the carriage house construction behind the Lowrie/Shaw House in October 2012. The 2,428-square-foot building has a basement, first floor and a mezzanine.
But the recently finished building will need some more work before it can become an exhibition space.“Of course, the carriage house has got to meet the codes. We're going to have to do some access work and put in a restroom,” said Collins.She said there is money remaining from the Bauer bequest to pay for additional work at the carriage house.Collins said the society's collection of two Jeeps, an Austin truck, an Austin car, the Bantam Hollywood convertible prototype and an Austin museum piece convertible could go on display at the carriage house on a rotating basis.The carriage house will provide the best possible preservation environment for the cars and artifacts while still allowing the vehicles to easily be removed to show them in other venues and particularly in parades, said Collins.“It will be easier to maintain and change the displays, which will be good for us because it will bring people back,” said Collins.She added the carriage house will probably be open as an exhibition space in early 2015.In addition to changes in the Historical Society's storage space, it's presence on the Internet has undergone an update.Collins said its website has been redone so that a catalog of items for sale has been linked to PayPal and sales have increased.Also, the website has a volunteer area that lists what positions are needed, which she credits for increasing volunteerism at the society.“It's wonderful to be at this point to have everything growing in a good way,” said Collins.
