A rally was held on the steps of the North Texas History Center in McKinney Saturday in an effort to drum up support to save it. The museum is in jeopardy of running out of money and closing its doors.
The building that houses the center is historic itself. It was built as a U.S. Post Office in 1911. Collin County now owns it and leases it to the history center. County commissioners, who act as landlords, recently decided to cut museum funding 75 percent and stop funding altogether next year. "I was surprised and horrified," said museum executive director Vicki Day.
The museum houses historic artifacts from five North Texas counties, from authentic flags, a covered wagon and civil war uniforms, to military weapons, a mask worn by Abraham Lincoln and slave shackles.
Students from area schools, including the Bonnema kids, often come to the center to learn hands-on about their heritage.
“It’s real-like. It’s not in a book. You can actually feel it,” said Boone Bonnema, a student. His grandfather, Arch Bonnema, also likes the hands-on approach. “It becomes more real to them when our grand kids can go there and try on clothes and actually touch and hold some of the old tools that our grandparents had to do to make things that are all electric for us."
History Center officials say they had a five-year plan to become self-sufficient without any county money. But the commissioners’ sudden move has left them struggling to find a way to survive. “If we're lost, that means history is lost. You can never retrieve it. It's gone forever," said Day.
Many of the supporters who attended Saturday’s rally were dressed in civil war uniforms. After the rally, they marched to the downtown McKinney square, where they asked people to help save a local treasure.
E-mail sstoler@wfaa.com
