by PAT MURDOCK
Special to the Hays Free Press
No one said it was going to be quick or easy, but the eagerly awaited renovation work on the downtown building that houses the Lyndon Baines Johnson Museum of San Marcos is about to begin.
Hays County awarded the first contract in the project to ABC Fire Systems, L.L.C. of New Braunfels for the installation of a sprinkler system and bids are due to the county by 2 p.m. Thursday, April 14, for the general construction contract. Funding provided by Hays County and the city of San Marcos will make full usage of the two story county-owned building, which is leased to the museum, a reality.
Construction plans call for renovation of the building’s expansive second floor and creation of archival storage and curation areas on the first floor. The installation of an elevator will open access to the second floor which will house additional exhibit and meeting space, along with a multi-purpose auditorium that will greatly enhance potential for educational programming and public events.
Frank Gomillion of Gomillion, Kester and Zimmerman, Inc. has been working with the county, the city and the museum’s board of directors to develop design plans and construction documents for the renovation work. A Facilities Committee chaired by board vice president Scott Gregson has worked closely with Gomillion on the project. Long-time board members Ed Mihalkanin and Ted Breihan are serving on the committee, as is board president Pat Murdock.
According to Murdock, the museum board capitalized on Texas State University student volunteers participating in Bobcat Build Saturday to empty the museum’s archival storage closet – in reality the electrical closet for the elevator that will be installed as part of the renovation project – so that installation of the sprinkler system can begin as early as Monday.
The museum’s annual golf tournament fundraiser is scheduled for June 11 at Quail Creek Country Club. Complete details about that will be available in a few days. The highly popular 60s Night at the Museum will definitely be held in 2011, but it looks like it may be scheduled a little later than August, Murdock said.
The LBJ Museum of San Marcos, which opened its doors to the public on Dec. 6, 2006, fills a special niche in the Johnson legacy by celebrating not only the president’s days in San Marcos where he attended what is now Texas State University-San Marcos but also his days as a public school teacher in the South Texas town of Cotulla. It has a unique perspective to share with the public about the man known as “The Education President.” Texas State remains the only university in the state of Texas to have graduated a U.S. president.
“The next few months are expected to be both exhausting and invigorating,” says Murdock. “Thanks to our local government leaders, we will be able to not only expand our exhibit space and create special auditorium, curation and archival areas, but we will have flexible space that we can make available for public use by other organizations. I’ve always been concerned about not having a real climate-controlled archival storage area, and now we will not only have a real archive but we will also be able to provide public access to the extensive collection of books that have been donated to the museum.”
“Frank has provided a display of the general layout anticipated for the renovation and we would love to have the opportunity to show it to our friends and supporters,” Murdock said, adding, “We appreciate everything Frank is doing, and we are very fortunate to have knowledgeable board members like Ted Breihan and Scott Gregson to serve on the Facilities Committee. And, of course, Ed Mihalkanin has been involved with the museum since the idea of creating one surfaced in 1997. He is invaluable.”
Although some disruption of museum access is anticipated during the construction phase, Murdock says the board hopes to keep the museum open as long as possible.
The museum is open to the public without charge from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Staffing is provided by museum operations manager Bill Cunningham and museum assistant Rafael Garcia.
