Lovell-Kane Museum to expand with new building

Plans are being developed for an expansion of the Lovell-Kane Area Museum, board chairman Karen Spragg confirmed this week.

One of the key steps is the donation of land by the Elsie Martens Trust per the wishes of the late Loretta Bischoff.

Spragg said the Martens Trust has donated land adjacent to and east of the Hyart Theatre to both the Hyart, built by Loretta’s father, Hy, and the museum. The donation to the museum includes the Lovell Area Chamber of Commerce Building, which will continue to house the chamber office, Spragg said.

Papers for the land donation will be signed on Friday, Spragg said.

The move will allow the museum to expand in the form of a new building running north and south just to the west of the current museum building at 354 Oregon Avenue.

Spragg said the museum board met this week with volunteers Matt Bassett, Chad Petrich, Pat Steed and Brad Tippetts, who have been instrumental in many of the museum projects, to help plan the new building project.

The museum plans to sell the storage unit west of the museum and move the adjacent warehouse east toward the museum. The new building will be constructed to the south of the warehouse and west of the museum.

The main purpose of the new building will be to house and display the historic Kane school wagon, which was restored by Steed a few years ago and is being stored at another location in town. Having the new building will allow the museum to display the wagon, along with a buggy owned by Petrich’s father, John, which was also recently restored by Steed.

The building will include a work table and additional storage.

Co-op building

In preparation for the land donation, volunteers tore down the former Co-op service station storage building located for decades north of the Chamber office, which formerly was the main service station building. The storage building was used as a warehouse for oil, batteries and tires and was likely constructed in the 1920s, Spragg said, noting that Big Horn Co-op moved into the Big Horn Basin in 1923. Lovell had the only Co-op service station in the Basin, she said.

The Co-op storage building had deteriorated over the years, Spragg said, with the bricks cracking and pulling away from the beams. She said the cost of restoring the building would be more than constructing a new one.

And so on December 20, a volunteer crew attacked the demolition project, Spragg said. Pete Baxendale of Midway Construction and Dirt Work donated the use of an excavator, operated by Britt Lohof, to tear down the building, and Bassett donated the use of a trailer and the work of his employee Rusty Carlson to carry salvageable material. Tippetts provided a dump truck to haul away the brick and other debris.

“I really appreciate Brad, Pete and Matt,” Spragg said.

The site will now be used for parking, she added.

The museum hopes to be able to obtain grant money matched by donations and museum fundraising for the new building, estimated to cost $71,000, Spragg said, noting that the board has been working with the Big Horn County Clerk’s Office and the State of Wyoming Budget Department Grants Management Office.

Spragg noted that the museum received matching $10,000 donations from Big Horn REA and Basin Electric, along with a $1,000 donation from an individual. Money from a fundraiser last fall can also be used, Spragg added.

She said the original plan was to not heat the new building, but the board has been advised by the Wyoming Historical Society and the State Museum that a heated building is preferable for climate controlled storage, rather than cold storage, and would better attract grant money.

Current members of the museum board are Spragg, Amanda Bennion, Angelina Minchow, Ed and Mary Alice Ewart and Allen and Elaine Harvey. She said the board is seeking new members.