'Penney' for your thoughts? Children's Museum moving downtown

By Samar

The Children's Museum of Northeast Montana has decided to make a big move – from a space in a former St. Marie building on Highway 2 east of Glasgow to an anchor spot downtown. The museum has bought the old JC Penney building on 2nd Avenue South, which has stood empty since the business closed in 2000.

It wasn’t long after the museum opened its doors in 2006 that the museum’s directors realized they would need more room to grow to provide all of the opportunities that the board of directors had originally established for the museum. For more than two years, the board searched for an adequate building to move into.

They had several close calls with disappointing outcomes before clinching the purchase of the Penney building from Jan Allie, who owns the adjacent building around the corner on 5th Street South where she operates her women's clothing store, Holly & Co. 

"I couldn't be happier," Allie said. "The museum is the perfect tenant for the property. Many people have looked at the property, but there was too much square footage."

The building will provide approximately 8,000 square feet of exhibit floor space, as well as room to construct adequate office space and a large classroom to facilitate the museum’s classes and summer camps. 

The move by the Children’s Museum is hoped to be a boost to the downtown community of Glasgow, providing an increase of foot traffic and interest into the area and increasing the neighborhood's curb appeal by remodeling the front of the building. 

Due to the long vacancy, along with numerous hail storms during that time, the building is in need of some renovation work, including a new roof, plumbing, electrical work, replacing old flooring, general construction to stabilize the building and remodeling the front exterior.

In addition to purchasing the building, the directors will be renting an additional 2,000-square-foot space in Allie's adjacent building that is accessible from inside the new museum. Longtime residents will remember that this area was the catalog department of the JC Penney store.

This area will house the museum’s newest hands-on component, “The Wildlife Experience.” The man behind this venture is Skip Erickson, a local resident who loves to take hunting trips to exotic locales. He has been looking for somewhere to display his extensive collection of wildlife mounts, and has found a partner in the museum.

Erickson said he has been working with the Children's Museum to find a new space for about a year since their last effort was blocked, the purchase of an abandoned church.

"They were looking for a home and I was looking for a home for my animals," Erickson said.

This component will consist of animal mounts large and small, from a life-size ostrich and a half giraffe to monkeys and such small cats as the civet. They will be divided into their region of origin and displayed in their natural habitat with educational information provided, along with artifacts from the cultures that reside in these regions.

Erickson said the museum will be good for downtown. It will fill an empty space and attract people.

"It's a big building with a lot of volume and high ceilings. They have plans for that. It's a unique fit for them," he said.

The museum’s board of directors created an aggressive three-phase project plan along with a timeline to help guide the project to completion. Many grants have been and will be written to assist in funding the renovation costs that the museum’s executive director, Stacey Fast, estimates to be $120,000. 

A Glasgow resident has come forward willing to commit up to $40,000 in matching funds if the Children’s Museum can raise that amount from the community. To raise this money, the Children’s Museum will have a local radio-a-thon April 22 on KLTZ/KLAN in Glasgow. 

The directors anticipate that the first phase of renovating the building will begin in April and will be complete by Oct. 30.

The directors will be working on Phase II, constructing new exhibits for the museum, alongside Phase I and they expect the museum will re-open to the public by the spring of 2012. 

The Children’s Museum will remain open in its current location at 98 U.S. 2 East until June 30. Museum supporters will be kept up to speed on the project's process via the museum’s Web site and quarterly newsletter.

For more information, visit www.nemtchildrensmuseum.com or call the museum at (406) 228-4386.