Sally Bouchard
A New Home for the Museum
By Sally Bouchard
Dec 1, 2007 - 8:58:15 PM

          After too many years of the Millinocket Town Museum being on the top floor of the Municipal Building, the museum has a chance to get a new home.

          Thanks to four votes from the town council; the town bought a apartment building for the Millinocket Historical Society to finally have a place to display their items without being so crowded that many items can not be shown and too many of the pictures of the history of the town cannot be displayed.

          The Millinocket Historical Society has two years to buy the building from the town; the town did not give the society the money; it is a loan that all members of the Historical Society want to pay off as soon as possible so that the town can have a museum that all the people of Millinocket can be proud of.

          After over three years that some of us have spent looking for a building for the museum;   many of the buildings we looked at were over $100,000, old buildings with flat roofs, wet cellars and some that were very hard to heat; we finally have a change to buy a building that will fit the needs of the museum.

          It also took over three years after very had work on the part of volunteers to fix up the two rooms that the museum are in to get the museum opened so that the items we have are being displayed in a way that the people of Millinocket and tourist can see them.

          Many people over the almost thirty years that the town has had a museum have worked hard to keep the history of the town of Millinocket alive. It is with a dedicated group of people that are now working to keep the museum and to put it in a building that will serve the people and their community well.

          It was not an easy decision to go before the town council and ask for help but without their help; we would not have been able to finally get a new home for the museum without their support.

          The museum needs a new home; the town needs the space that we now occupy for their records. The people of Millinocket deserve that their history will be preserved in the best place without being crowded, and too many people did not know that Millinocket has had a museum for many years.

           The new building unlike too many old homes is well built, it has been kept up and it has a very dry cellar to store our items in. All items in a museum need a dry place, no mold or musty smell. It should be in a good location which this building is and with low ceilings; it will not be hard to heat.

          The history of Millinocket is important to many of us; like many small towns it was the people that build this community whose history we want to keep alive for the future generations to know.

          We owe them for the town and community they built and it is their history. It is for them that we want a building that will show all their hard work and to give thanks for their dedication to make Millinocket a wonderful place to live.