Polk Historical Society celebrates museum’s re-opening at new location
The Polk County Historical Society is bigger and better than ever thanks to their new home at Cedartown’s 117 West Avenue.
A much larger building means more historical artifacts are open to the public, and visitors eagerly went inside after the July 28 ribbon cutting.
Whether it be actor Sterling Holloway, magician Lulu Hurst, or century-old newspapers, the county’s most notable people and events are well represented by the historical society in the new location. Holloway even has a whole room dedicated to memorabilia from his life and career.
Those interested in brushing up on local history can visit from 1:30 to 4 p.m. on Wednesday and 10 a.m. through 2 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
While more space and a fresh start were benefits of the move away from the Hawkes building, accessibility proved to be the biggest motivation in moving.
Those suffering from movement disabilities often had trouble entering the previous museum. The new building’s entrance is on ground level instead of needing steps or an elevators to go somewhere.
The former bank building does have a meeting room upstairs, accessible via an elevator.
“We have been outgrown over at the Hawkes building for years,” Historical Society member Greg Gray said. "our storage room finally got stacked so high. Handicap accessibility over at the other building was always an issue, and an elevator system was out of the question. So, whenever this came up, we discussed with the members and made the decision this would be handicap accessible, have a bigger display, and be closer to Main Street.”
It’s not game over for the group’s former headquarters at Cedartown’s 205 S. College St., however.
Gray said repurposing the main areas of the facility, and turning the basement into a genealogy research center are the plans at the moment for the old museum building.
“Our plans for the Hawkes building are to fix the upstairs into a place we can rent out to raise funds for the museum and keep it going,” Gray explained. “We plan to move our genealogy research center into the basement, and we have plans to build a real library.”
The Historical Society offers genealogy research for $20 for 2 hours. Using resources in the museum, the team will delve into one’s ancestry and answer questions.
Those seeking to help the museum in other ways can purchase a membership.
More information about the museum and society can be found at http://www. polkhist.com/.