While there’s not much to see yet inside the Montezuma County Heritage Museum, there will be come mid-July, said Ann Brown, chair of the Montezuma County Historical Society.
“Everybody says, ‘When are you going to open, when are you going to open?’” she said.
“We will eventually,” is her response.
The historical society is in the process of curating exhibits in its new museum space at 35 S. Chestnut St.
Community support and several grants have funded the yearslong process to revive the museum.
The most recent grant, an $18,000 Colorado Sustaining the Humanities Grant through the American Rescue Plan, came two weeks ago, said museum campaign manager Barbara Stagg.
The grant was awarded to 79 organizations, Colorado Humanities announced Oct. 19.
The endowments were geared toward reinvigorating the cultural sector — particularly small, local organizations, amid the impacts of COVID-19, the announcement said.
Colorado Humanities reached out to the Montezuma County Historical Society directly, Stagg said.
With two days until the deadline, Stagg scrambled to fill out the grant application.
“That’s the kind of thing you don’t mind staying up all night for,” she said.
Stragg, who has fundraised for various organizations for 40 years, said she’s never seen as much fiscal backing from the community as she has here.
The historical society completed its $350,000 of structural work at Montezuma County’s old Social Services building last month, Brown said.
Kimble/Silver Creek Construction headed the project.
The design, fabrication and installation of exhibits will cost $75,000, although the museum is still fundraising the last $25,000, Stagg said.
The new museum space will feature 2,000 square feet of exhibits, a general store, an audio-visual theater, an archives and research room, a curating room, a meeting room that can hold 60 people and two public bathrooms.
The historical society’s previous location closed 50 years ago, at which point artifacts were stored and scattered throughout public buildings, including the airport, City Hall and the courthouse, Brown said.
Now, the organization is cataloging and photographing the artifacts, and planning its debut in the new exhibit space. The artifacts will rotate, Brown said.
The society also plans to produce a 20-minute documentary on Montezuma County, to be on view at the museum.
Brown is excited to feature the likes of a Victrola phonograph, an organ, a 100-year-old violin and a vintage stove donated by a man who moved to Cortez from Nebraska.
“Rather than just displaying objects and pictures with labels, the goal is more challenging: to portray and interpret the human stories that make this region’s history so diverse, colorful and compelling,” a recent newsletter from the museum said.
The Cortez Cultural Center was also awarded a Colorado Sustaining the Humanities grant through the American Rescue Plan for $20,000.
