Make no little plans

They have the construction designs. They have storage space filled with artifacts.

What the Museum of North Idaho board members need is a better economy, and a lot of community support.

The museum's staff and board of trustees are still in the planning stages to construct a spacious new facility, to accommodate demand for research, office space and displays.

"(The need) is two sided. Part is what the public sees, and part what the public doesn't see," said Dorothy Dahlgren, museum director.

"It's vital to have new infrastructure to preserve and collect the history of our region."

The museum's administration has been considering for years building and relocating to a new facility further down Northwest Boulevard, Dahlgren said. Construction plans were even drawn up a few years back.

But right now, the transition is on hold.

"The board decided to put it on the back burner until the economy turns around," Dahlgren explained.

But the need isn't as easy to put aside, board members said.

"Yesterday," said board member Larry Strobel, when asked how soon they would like the new facility built.

The forest-green building on Northwest Boulevard that houses the museum is worn down, he explained. The 4,000-square-foot facility, formerly a co-op gas station and feed store, has hosted the museum since 1979.

Above all, the building is simply too small to accommodate the multitude of artifacts like wagons, clothing and bicycles in the nonprofit's off-site storage space, he said.

"We can only do so much with the room we've got," Strobel said. "I would just like to see a larger, roomier building with modern display methods."

The lack of display room in an increasing problem, Dahlgren added, since North Idaho College is no longer housing artifacts at the Fort Sherman Powder Magazine building.

Items exhibited there, like immense logging equipment and a Miss Spokane lifeboat, will no longer be available for public viewing, she said.

"There is nowhere to show them," she said.

Office space is a problem, too. The small office and library are too tight for staff, volunteers and folks conducting research, she said.

On Monday, Dahlgren didn't know where she would store a wealth of photo negatives from the 1960s, just donated from a collection taken by photographers Chuck and Liz Sowder.

"We desperately need another paid staff member, but I don't know where I'd put (the person)," Dahlgren said.

The facility's small theater is too small for large events, she added, which must be scheduled off site.

The plans for the new building promise improvements all around.

The 22,000-square-foot facility would include a 6,000-sqaure foot exhibit space; a lecture hall seating 150; and space for research, storage, offices and cataloguing.

The building could be rented out for other events, said board member Doug Miller, and allow the museum to remain open year-round.

"The amount of traffic that we get in the winter months (now) doesn't justify keeping it open year-round," Miller said.

The price tag for the new building would be around $8 million.

The museum currently has some seed money of about $120,000.

"We have to build awareness in the community, 'This is what our plans are,' and raise the membership numbers up," Miller said. "Then we will seek grant funds from large foundations, as well as corporate foundations."

There are a couple possible locations on Northwest Boulevard where the new facility would be.

The museum's lease on its current building is up in 2014.

The city of Coeur d'Alene, which owns the facility, doesn't have immediate plans for it, said City Council member Deanna Goodlander.

"I don't think that the city has any intention to make them move," Goodlander said.

Years ago, city officials discussed tearing the building down once the museum no longer needs it, she added.

"It's an old building, not in real great shape," she said.

To become a member of the museum, call 664-3448, or go to www.museumni.org/membership.html.

A new museum could be a community gem, Miller said.

"Everybody in the community has taken pride in the new library and great pride in the Kroc Center," he said. "Hopefully, they'll take great pride in the new museum that can better display the history of North Idaho."