Shiloh Museum Undergoing Multi-Year Renovation
by December 7, 2015 12:00 am 87 views
The Shiloh Museum of Ozark History in Springdale is getting a remodel, slowly but surely.
Because the cost to outsource the project would exceed $4 million, the city-funded museum is conducting the renovations in-house, taking one section of the gallery per year.
The settlers’ exhibit opened in February, ringing in at $13,000, and the $15,000 renovation of the Civil War to WWI era will be finished by the end of the year.
Shiloh museum plans to finish the entire project by 2018, in time for its 50th anniversary, said director Allyn Lord.
New murals, Spanish-language materials and touch-screen identification cards are elements future visitors can look forward to.
With Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art attracting more sophisticated audiences to the region, Lord said the renovation had to be done. “It was overdue.”
Most exhibits are unchanged since the museum was built about 25 years ago, and a few are holdovers from its original location at the old Springdale library.
With the newly built Razorback Greenway adjacent to the property and with new development happening nearby on Emma Avenue, Lord says the timing is right for a makeover.