Parker Historical Society to gain downtown presence

A Grand Avenue fixture will become the gateway to historic downtown Spencer, and the repository of the county's history, thanks to a deal recently struck between Johnston Automotive owners and the Parker Historical Society.

It seems very appropriate that a business with long ties to the Spencer community has helped to pave the way to a new home for a local organization dedicated to preserving the county's history.

A purchase agreement was signed this week between the Parker Historical Society and the owners of Johnston Automotive, which will allow the society to move its offices and exhibition area to the company's Grand Avenue location.

Located at 7 Grand Avenue, the building, which houses the company's Spencer retail outlet, offers approximately 10,000 square feet of space for the museum's exhibits, storage, offices and gift and information center.

"I've been with the Parker Historical Society since 1994, " said executive director Cindy McGranahan. "Throughout all that time, we've been talking about the need for handicapped accessible space, climate-controlled storage and areas dedicated to exhibits. Those dreams can now become a reality."

The deal didn't happen overnight, and has actually been years in the making.

In 2007, the Parker Historical Society was the recipient of a $400,000 Dvergsten Foundation grant, aimed at expanding its exhibit and storage space, allowing for more educational programming and outreach in a handicapped-accessible facility.

Months of discussion and meetings with architects failed to come up with a building plan to create enough square footage utilizing the museum's current property on East Third Street. The lot size limited the scope of the proposed project.

That's where the Johnston Automotive building came into play.

Parker Historical Society president Paul Brenner met with Spencer City Manager Bob Fagen in May to discuss options off-site for the museum to locate. Fagen brought the museum and Johnston Automotive owners Mark Lykke and Tim Beachem together. The company, which has 12 retail stores in the region, had located its corporate offices to the west industrial park on 37th Ave. West, in 2006.

After weeks of discussions and negotiations, the company agreed to sell its Grand Avenue retail location to the museum. The sale includes a significant donation, in the form of a reduced sale price, to the society.

"First and foremost, this is going to positively affect our customer service," said Lykke. The company plans to add a new storefront and additional customer parking at its warehouse location.

"This will allow us a centralized location so we can offer our customers the best selection of inventory and the same great customer service they have come to expect over the years."

The relocation of the downtown location is set for January 2.

The company has been at the downtown location since 1952, and Lykke and Beachem bought the company in 1978. That longtime connection to the community was an impetus for the owners to support the Parker Historical Society purchase through its price reduction.

"We've always wanted to give back to Spencer for what Spencer has given to us," Lykke explained. "We've always felt that corner, just north of the bridge, was a pretty great location and we feel the Parker museum project is a great way to take advantage of that."

With a closing date of January 6, 2010, set the museum board members and staff are excited about the opportunity presented, and eager to get to work on plans to transform the retail space and warehouse into a top-notch museum and educational center.

"The board and I are enthused about the potential this has for the future of the Parker Historical Society of Clay County," said Brenner. "Twenty-five years ago, when I first served on this board, the dream was to some day have a staff to organize events that had traditionally been up to volunteers. In 2010, the 50th anniversary year of the Parker, Museum Director Cindy McGranahan will be able to utilize the additional square footage to address our storage needs, and to launch new exhibits in a fresh space."

The museum's prime artifact, the Parker House, will continue to be an integral part of the museum. It will be available for tours and special events and, with its current use as a secondary storage unit and exhibit space made unnecessary thanks to the new facility, it will be arranged as an exhibit of daily life in the early part of the 20th century.

"The 1916 Parker home will continue to be the primary exhibit," explained Brenner, "depicting a lifestyle much different than the 21st century."

The museum board's first move will be to hire an architect to assist it in reconfiguring the space. The renovation process will follow.

Fagen sees the move by the Parker Historical Society to be a significant development for the group and for the city.

"I am very excited about this opportunity," he said. "This building is ideally located to bring more people into the museum to learn about the history of Spencer and the area and it fits in so well with the city's plan to renovate the riverfront."

With the generous Dvergsten gift, the board has a big head start in fundraising for the project. It hopes to leverage that support with additional state and local grants.

And, in recognition of the society's 50-year anniversary, the board is planning a capital fundraising campaign to support construction and programming for the new facility. In addition, work is under way for an application to the Spencer Storefront initiative to assist in its Grand Avenue façade restoration.