Island Park Museum, It’s Now or Never!

The Island Park Community has been debating the nature of a local museum for several years. Every option has been considered: a stand-alone museum, a museum/community center, a museum/library and a museum/hardware store. The possibilities that have been explored were numerous and occasionally overwhelming. Circumstances have reached a critical mass this year. The Zollinger Family’s offer to donate ground for a museum at Elk Creek expires soon. The Gunnell’s offer to house the museum above a new lumber yard expires this fall. Finally, the Forest Service is looking for someone to take over their office building on the Buffalo River, southeast of Pond’s Lodge.

I would suggest that the best location for the museum is the Forest Service Building. The location would limit the initial construction costs, especially construction of a well and septic system. The building is also immediately visible on Highway 20 and has an adequate parking lot. Our congressional representatives could pursue the Federal donation of the building for the museum. Since the Forest Service would like to keep a seasonal office in Island Park, an offer of a one dollar-a-year lease for an office within the building as part of the deal would make the transaction more inviting. Housing the Forest Service and Island Park Museum within the same building makes sense since the experiences of the agency and the residents of the caldera are so intertwined. Not to mention that donating the building would make up for some of those tank traps that the Forest Service carved into our logging roads several years ago.

The Two hundred thousand dollars that the historical society has available to apply towards a museum could be better spent on interior remodeling and exhibits than on basic construction costs.

This Friday, September 18^th at 5:30 pm the Island Park Historical Society will hold its annual meeting at the EMS Building. One of the purposes of this meeting is to discuss a museum location. I suggest that all members attend and if you do not belong to the IPHS, the dues are a whopping $10 for an individual or $15 for a family membership.

On Monday September 21^st at 6:00 pm members of Senator Crapo’s staff will be at the EMS Building to take suggestions about what to do with the Island Park Forest Service Building. If the community wants the building to be the home of the Island Park Museum, attendance is recommended.

Items related to our history are moving off the caldera with great regularly. Soon there won’t be enough artifacts to stock a museum in Island Park if an adequate location is not built to house them. If the community makes the effort now to develop the Island Park museum, they will be thanked by generations yet unborn.