Republic Historical Society seeks funds for new building

Bob Ford: The city's property donation to the History Society has contingencies.

Nearly 30 years into operating its museum space on North Main Street, the Republic Historical Society is amid fundraising efforts to exit the only home it’s ever occupied.

The all-volunteer organization, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, has plans to construct a new building on property donated to it by the city. Terry Trogdon Mooneyham, president of the Historical Society since 2022, said plans call for a $4 million, 16,000-square-foot facility to be built a block from its current home at 146 N. Main St. The 150-member organization has leased museum space since its inception in 1997 from the local Masonic Lodge, which has owned the building for nearly a century, she said.

Mooneyham said the proposed two-story structure designed by Republic architect James O’Donnell will consist of a museum with a research room and first-floor space for an event center. On the other side of the building, the organization wants to lease space to a local entrepreneur who could launch a coffee shop, which Mooneyham said would be a good complement to the venue’s other components.

“We didn’t start out thinking at a meeting that we need to build 16,000 square feet of museum space,” Mooneyham said, adding its current museum home is roughly 1,500 square feet. “Our original plan to move from where we are now to a larger space came about when the city of Republic was going to demolish their old Public Works building on Main Street.”

Noting the building was once a Ford dealership, Mooneyham said the well over 100-year-old building had structural challenges.

“The historic character had been covered up for a long time, but we thought that would give us more space, and instead of tearing it down that they could donate it,” she said, noting the city determined the building also had mold and was best to be razed. “But they said they would donate the property, which includes where the building stood and the parking lot behind it.”

Bob Ford, city of Republic’s chief financial officer, said the former Public Works building at the corner of Main and Olive streets ultimately would have required more investment than desired to make it suitable for any future occupant.

However, the land donation was made with contingencies, he said. It requires the Historical Society to obtain necessary funding to build the museum and begin construction by 2029.

“If both of those conditions are not met, then City Council has the option to extend the timeline or request the return of the property to the city,” Ford said via email.

As space is limited at the museum, the organization has a storage unit to maintain overflow, while volunteers try to regularly rotate the items on display, Mooneyham said. Some of those items include Republic High School composites stretching back decades, art and agriculture displays, artifacts such as clothing and jewelry, vintage photographs, memorabilia from Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, autographed basketballs from RHS state championship teams and a timeline of the city’s history stretching back to before the community was chartered in 1871.

“We're going to have a room dedicated just to our sports history,” Mooneyham said of the future museum. She added that its current research space will be significantly larger.

“We have thousands of family records that we feel like is going to be a big draw to genealogists,” she said.

The museum also hosts the Historical Society meetings, which include presentations from the community. This month’s gathering involved a discussion of the 100-year history of the Owen and Short building on Main Street, according to the organization’s Facebook page.

Raising funds
Mooneyham declined to disclose the current amount of the building fund, noting fundraising efforts began a few months ago. As a retired financial adviser with Ameriprise, Mooneyham was tasked to also serve as chair of the capital campaign.

“That’s a pretty large number – an ambitious number for a nonprofit that does not receive any tax funding and doesn’t have legacy money coming in yet,” she said of the estimated $4 million building project. “We thought grants would do maybe half of it, but we are now in a period where there’s not much federal grant money that was available. So, we’re trying to do a workaround around that.”

She said fundraising on a larger scale is challenging right now as she approaches businesses and individuals.

“I need to impress upon them a little bit more on how involvement in this museum project will show that they have a stake in the community’s future,” she said. “It’s easy for us to raise $5,000, $10,000. What I’m looking for is the $500,000 commitment for one business that has come into the community.”

The Historical Society did recently receive good news as it was approved by the Missouri Department of Economic Development for its Neighborhood Assistance Program. NAP tax credits are available for projects in the categories of community services, crime prevention, education, job training and physical revitalization, according to the DED. Eligible applicants are nonprofits and some faith-based organizations and businesses that meet state requirements. Any person, firm or corporation with business income in Missouri, including sole proprietorships, farm operators or members of limited liability corporations, can be issued tax credits by donating to eligible community projects.

“We’ve waited on that because that’s going to allow businesses and individuals to donate to the building campaign,” she said. “It gives people and businesses an opportunity to donate to our nonprofit and take that 50% tax credit off of Missouri state income tax liability that they would have.”

Main Street investment
Mooneyham said the project also can serve as a revitalization of Main Street, which has seen businesses and city government offices relocate elsewhere in town over the years. Part of that relocation includes city hall, which formerly was at 213 N. Main St. The city is amid a $5 million, 16,000-square-foot construction project for the new city hall at 4221 S. Wilson’s Creek Blvd., according to past SBJ reporting. Ford said the 213 N. Main St. and 204 N. Main St. properties the city owns are currently for sale.

“We patterned our design after the original old buildings on Main Street,” Mooneyham said of the future museum home.

The organization also is taking inspiration from the Monett Historical Society, which nearly a decade ago opened in a new location and included an event center as part of the facility, Mooneyham said.

“Right now, our income is membership dues and our books we publish and calendars, but that’s not sustainable for what we’re trying to do,” she said, adding those components bring in roughly $30,000 annually for the nonprofit. “So, part of our big plan is a 130-person event center, and that will be created to be a very lovely space that opens out to a park area. That’s going to be leased out for birthday parties, reunions, family gatherings, business meetings. That’s going to be a big piece of us being able to financially sustain this larger space.”