Historical society faces rebuilding

Catonsville museum was flooded in May; damage is estimated at $50,000

Officials with the Catonsville Historical Society say the Memorial Day weekend rains that flooded Catonsville and Ellicott City caused more than $50,000 in damage to their Frederick Road museum, damaging display cases, destroying the society’s popular model train garden and ruining more than150 years’ worth of archived Catonsville Times newspapers.

Anne Luco, president of the historical society, said water on the main floor of the 75-year-old building damaged four display cases and a desk, ruined the carpet and some subflooring, and damaged drywall.

In the basement — home to a train layout that’s a big draw for the museum during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season — volunteers were “picking trains out of the rafters” following the storm, Luco said.

The basement also housed the society’s archived collection of the Catonsville Times, the community newspaper that’s been published in the area for 150 years. The Times is part of the Baltimore Sun Media Group.

Nearly all of the museum’s other collection items were spared; most are now in storage while the basement continues to dry out and the main floor is repaired. Luco said a hot water heater and air conditioning unit also may have to be replaced.

The damage came from the storm that dumped 10 inches of rain in two hours on May 27, causing millions in damage in Ellicott City and sweeping one man to his death.

The Catonsville Historical Society, founded in 1973, faces costs of about $50,000 to restore its property, Luco said. The continued rainy weather hasn’t made recovery easy.

“It’s just made it stressful,” she said. “We haven’t taken any more water, but we keep going down checking. … I would just feel better if the rain would stop and let the ground dry up.”

The Catonsville Historical Society plans a fundraiser in mid-September with food, live music and a home brew beer competition, Luco said. Proceeds will go toward rebuilding costs. The society also is accepting tax-deductible donations.

Luco said the flood is prompting the group to reconsider some of its operations. For example, it probably will not replace the carpeting on the museum’s main floor, and will no longer store items of significant value in the basement because of the flooding risk. Also, the train garden could be moved from the main building to an annex.

This week the Maryland Small Business Administration opened outreach centers, including one in Catonsville, to provide information about disaster loans available to residents and businesses affected by the May storm. “We are looking into that,” Luco said. The building flooded in 2016 too, causing $9,000 in damage. Ben Landrum, a volunteer, was largely responsible for revitalizing the train garden after that incident, but said this year’s flood was much worse.

He said the train layout had been through a couple of floods, “but nothing that totally destroyed it,” he said. “This totally destroyed it.”

Luco said she was not sure when repair work could be completed.