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Official to visit Brooke museum

WELLSBURG — The Brooke County Museum and Cultural Center will be visited next week by a state official who helped to make it possible.

Ruby Greathouse, volunteer curator and board member for the museum, told the Brooke County Commission that state Commissioner of Culture and History Randall Reid-Smith will be at the museum from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

It will be Reid-Smith’s first visit there since helping to secure a $90,000 state grant that allowed the museum to be moved from the corner of Sixth and Main streets to its present site at 704 Charles St. Museum board members said the former location lacked adequate space. The new location allows all of the artifacts to be displayed on one floor, with an elevator to the second floor that may be used to move them to a higher level in case of flooding.

In keeping with its expanded name, the museum has hosted an annual art show featuring works by Brooke High School students and alumni and occasional concerts.

Residents are encouraged to meet with Reid-Smith and share their thoughts on the museum, which includes two rooms devoted to military service from the American Revolution to the Persian Gulf; a display room of glass produced by the county’s once thriving glass industry; and recreations of 1890s and 1920s kitchens, among other displays.

In anticipation of visitors for the city’s 10-day Independence Day celebration, the museum will be open from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. today through Tuesday.

The museum’s regular hours are noon to 5 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. Arrangements for visits at other times may be mad by calling (304) 737-4060 or (304) 312-5316.

The building was used last as a telemarketing call center, and museum board members decided instead of gutting its 75 cubicles to convert them into display areas, covering the half-walls with wallpaper to match the various settings. Even a recreation of the former Brooke County jail is backed with wallpaper resembling brick.

Posted near each display is a photo guide identifying farm equipment, kitchen tools and other artifacts found there. The guides were created by Tammy Withers,who was named a 2016 West Virginia History Hero for her efforts at the museum, while the wallpapering can be credited to her mother, Mary Greathouse.

On Tuesday, commissioners learned Mary Greathouse plans to step down from the board, as her term and terms of five other board members are due to expire.

Ruby Greathouse noted five-year terms for the board’s 10 members should be staggered but aren’t, possibly because it became difficult to fill the seats in recent years. She said she will work with the commission to re-establish staggered terms.

The commission agreed to accept letters of interest in the seats, from present board members and newcomers, through the county clerk’s office for two weeks.

The commission also announced because of Independence Day, its next meeting will be moved to 10:30 a.m. Monday at the county courthouse.

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