The new Aberdeen Museum of History located at 118 W. Wishkah St. in Aberdeen is approaching a key milestone, and will miss a critical deadline.

City of Aberdeen Parks Director Stacie Barnum presented an update to the City Council at their most recent regular meeting on March 12 at Grays Harbor College. According to Barnum, Harbor Architects is working on the final design with an estimated completion date of May 1.

“We should have construction drawings by then,” Barnum said.

The design includes a remodel of the first floor for use as a public museum, parks department office space, a Visitors Information Center and museum storage. Harbor Architects was selected in September 2024.

Some of the funding, up to $240,000, for the museum will be reimbursed by a Capital Heritage Grant, which must be used for architecture, engineering and construction cost estimates by June 30. According to Barnum’s presentation, the project is on track to meet that deadline.

“We also received the Washington State Community Buildings appropriation which is $1.7 million and $490,000,” Barnum said. “We were supposed to complete that project by June 30, obviously that’s not going to happen.”

The City has requested a reappropriation of those funds in the 2025-2027 biennium budget, which, according to Barnum, is currently included in Gov. Bob Ferguson’s budget proposal. However, the state Legislature will make the final decision when they vote on a proposed budget before the end of the current legislative session, which falls on April 27.