The Aberdeen Museum of History board has added another possible location for a temporary display venue: the Wiitamaki Jewelry Store on East Wishkah.
“The discussion around Wiitamaki is not about a permanent location,” said board chairman John Shaw. “That is a location of opportunity that would give us a chance to, what I call, get the museum back in the museum business, engaging with the community in a positive way as part of downtown core development.” The museum burned in a fire in 2018.
At a board meeting last week, board member George Donovan said he’s toured the Wiitamaki building twice and believes, at least for the short term, “it would be a great fit.” There is some work that would need to be done but, “If the roof doesn’t leak, the heat’s on, it’s safe and it’s insured, I think it’s a very viable place to start and I think we ought to pursue it.”
The Wiitamaki building, which will be vacant when Wiitamaki Jewelry Store’s going out of business phase is complete, is one of several in the county owned by Oregon real estate mogul Terry Emmert. Shaw said Emmert and the board have been in discussions with the city to potentially provide museum display space. Emmert “is a businessman who is willing to make an investment in downtown,” said Shaw.
Shaw said the Wiitamaki building “gives us an interim location (where) we can start engaging with the public again in the downtown traffic pattern. We hope to show a model of future museum use that is also admissions-based by tapping into the traffic flow through downtown and creating a location that encourages people to stop and engage in the downtown core.”
The Aberdeen Library is also discussing the possibility of using the Wiitamaki building as a temporary location, said Shaw, when construction begins on a library remodel around the end of this year into early 2022. The building’s 8,800 square feet could offer space for a museum display and a temporary library location.
The Wiitamaki building is just one of several locations the museum board is considering, some for collection storage, some for a temporary display, with an eye on a potential permanent museum down the road.
“The site committee for the museum continues to investigate all the ideas that have been brought up to us for possible locations for future museum engagement,” said Shaw, “and also locations for storage of the collection.”
Other properties under discussion include the Moore building at the southwest corner of Broadway and Wishkah, the Sears building in south Aberdeen, the middle Swanson’s (former supermarket), and the Kaufman Scroggs building. Meanwhile, the City of Aberdeen is continuing to investigate the possible purchase of the Boeing building, which has been mentioned as a collection storage possibility. Again, all of these sites are being investigated by the board; there is currently no set location for museum activities, for display, storage or otherwise.
The board “still has the same list of priorities” as it did when it was formed after the armory fire that displaced the museum almost three years ago, said Shaw. It “includes engagement with the public and the downtown core area, possibly the restoration of a historic building.”
The museum will need volunteers, to go through the collection and to man a temporary display area when it comes to be. The board this month talked about its discussions with the Friends of the Aberdeen Museum about a relationship beneficial to the museum, and Shaw said the board is looking at partnerships across the board to get the museum back in operation.
“The board has specifically moved forward … to engage all the citizens of Aberdeen and various groups,” and wants to “get everybody involved again” with the operation of a museum, said Shaw.
City of Aberdeen Parks Director Stacie Barnum, the city’s board liaison, said she had been in contact with the Washington State Historical Society, which has said it can provide volunteer training.
The museum at the city’s Armory Building burned in a spectacular fire in June 2018. Artifacts are currently housed in a warehouse on Port Industrial Road and not accessible to the public. The museum and its artifacts were owned by the City of Aberdeen, which has received an insurance settlement from the fire.
The recently shuttered Wiitamaki Jewelry store is located at 201 E, Wishkah St. in Aberdeen. The Aberdeen Board of Museum and History is considering it for a temporary display venue. (David Haerle/The Daily World)
