Editor’s note: Following is a letter sent by Anthony Airhart, former president of the Friends of the Aberdeen Museum, to Aberdeen Mayor Pete Schave and the city council. Last week, the city received a $23 million insurance settlement for the fire that destroyed the Armory building in Aberdeen, which housed the Aberdeen Museum of History. The city is now considering how to use the settlement.

Mayor Schave and the City Council of Aberdeen:

For decades, prior to the big fire that took her away, Aberdeen had a remarkable museum. Not a remarkable museum just for a city the size of Aberdeen, but a facility that would have been a treasure for cities far larger than our community. This wasn’t by chance and it wasn’t because of a large effort by the City itself. It was because of volunteers and local donors. It is only fitting that the dedication and hard work by the dozens of citizens who contributed their time, sweat and hard earned dollars to the Aberdeen Museum of History be honored and recognized. The City has that opportunity with the insurance settlement funds recently received.

Likewise, the City has the perfect opportunity to thank the Swanson family for their generous donation of the Armory building. While the donation paperwork may have only noted a use for the public good, anyone around at the time will remember they specifically noted they wanted to see a museum in the Armory. It is only right and proper that the funds received from the Armory fire be fully designated to ensuring a new museum is provided for Aberdeen.

The expense to the city for our old museum was minimal. The outlay of City resources or manpower, minimal. The Friends of the Aberdeen Museum did the planning, fundraising and labor of creating, maintaining and operating the museum. They built it from the ground up. Their gift to the city was a wonderful place to gather and a beautiful exhibition of our colorful history. It was a place for education, reminiscing and celebration. It was a draw for tourists or for a family outing on a rainy Harbor afternoon. The place was magical.

The value of having a museum in our community is not likely to be challenged. The issue at hand is size, quality and funding. It is my personal belief that in today’s Aberdeen you will not find a group of volunteers ready to recreate the gargantuan effort that gave us what we had. The Greatest Generation did more than successfully fight World War II. They kept right on and created a life and community that most of us have come to see as an entitlement. The folks who provided us with the Aberdeen Museum did it the way they did everything: hard work and tenacity. When I became President of the Friends, the real work was already done. The place existed and it was fabulous. But the volunteer base had aged and many were already gone. As I told them, the days when they could make the place go on just their hard work and bake sales were long past. It was time for the community to step up and pay the bills and the community responded. Now it is time for the City of Aberdeen to step up.

A new, quality museum worthy of our fair city will not happen in the same manner as the old. This one needs to be paid for directly and an endowment set up to help fund operations on an ongoing basis. I would ask the Mayor and Council to fully dedicate the insurance settlement funds for that purpose. Build Aberdeen a facility that shows community pride. Create an endowment at the Grays Harbor Community Foundation that will help provide operating funds on into the future. Pass along the gift those volunteers gave to the current and future generations of Harborites. Honor their work and their vision. Follow in the footsteps of good citizenship they showed us all by their example. Don’t skimp; don’t shave off funds for some other purpose. Don’t just think “good enough,” but rather reach for the stars. When will a funding opportunity of this magnitude for a museum ever come our way again? The need is before you and the dollars in your hands. How will history look upon your answer to this call?

A program officer for the Murdock Charitable Trust once told me that the Trust loved Grays Harbor. He noted we were different from almost any other Northwest community and he’d visited them all. He explained that when Grays Harbor needed something, be it a school, a hospital or whatever, we did it. Investing in Grays Harbor was a solid investment because Grays Harbor got the job done. Well, here is this generation’s turn in the spotlight. It can meet the challenge and get the job done, or it can falter and do it halfway. Do it right. Do the right thing. Do it in a way that would make every soul who put in time at the old museum proud of Aberdeen.

Sincerely, on behalf of every past Friend of the Aberdeen Museum,

Anthony Airhart

Aberdeen