MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The last legal constraint on the creation and operation of the Gibson Museum & Cultural Center was felled on Tuesday by the Lake County Board of Supervisors, which approved an agreement for operating the center.
Specifically, the board approved a consent agenda item that included a memorandum of understanding between the county of Lake and the Lake County Historical Society for the renovation and operation of the center, which formerly housed the Middletown Library.
At the same time, the board gave its support to changing the name of the former Gibson Library to the Gibson Museum and Cultural Center and also approved a budget transfer totaling $15,000 from geothermal reserve royalties, to be used for repairs to the museum and cultural center.
The board's action ended months of fine-tuning the memorandum of understanding. The document governs the shared responsibilities for maintenance of the historic building, which the county has owned since 1974 and will extend to the society rent-free for its use as a museum.
The $15,000 will be used primarily to revamp a handicap ramp to meet more rigid contemporary standards.
The Lake County Historical Society's Gibson committee has received preliminary authorization to have much of the work performed by its volunteers, so county funds can be used for materials, including additional materials to repair damage from dry rot around window areas.
That work will be helped by a $5,000 donation the project recently received from the Hardesters, with the group also anticipating some other significant donations in the near future.
The building was first opened to the public as the Gibson Library in 1930 on the weekend of May 3-4.
Funds for construction had been donated by Chauncey W. Gibson, owner of the Castle Springs Resort near Anderson Springs.
The Middletown public library was moved last April to the new Middletown Community Center.
A grand opening of the Gibson Museum & Cultural Center is slated for the weekend of May 3-4, 2014.
In 1930, festivities celebrating the opening of the library included a grand ball, a concert and dedication exercises in the Middletown pavilion. The Salvation Army band traveled from Lytton Springs in Sonoma County for the occasion.
For next spring’s museum opening, a community-wide “Re-visit the '30s” gala is being planned. Local businesses and organizations will offer the decade’s music, movies, fads and fashions – with but a nod here and there to the Great Depression and major news.
The Gibson group’s Web sites, www.cgibsonmuseum.com or www.middletownhistory.com , offers resources for local merchants to make it easier for them to participate.
It also offers an ongoing record of how much work the volunteers have already accomplished on the renovation of the building and preparation for displays.
For further information, write to
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