The new museum facility, shown in this drawing from Lund Associates, will be built on the site of the existing Days of '76 Museum. From Highway 85-14A, the new Days of '76 Museum will provide an impressive greeting to Deadwood visitors.
The Days of 76 Museum Board has a $6 million plan to build a new two-story, 32,000-square-foot main museum building for the Days of 76 Museum’s historically significant collections of Western and Native American artifacts, archives, photos and artwork.
With the new facility, the Days of 76 Museum staff will be better equipped to preserve, restore, interpret and exhibit the collections.
The new museum will stand two stories tall, and there will be a large elevator inside to move some of the larger artifacts to second-floor displays. It will also have better lighting, and more space for display and interpretation of the collections than the existing facility does.
In addition, a separate Bush Foundation grant has funded construction of a 6,300-square-foot storage building next to the museum site. The storage facility, completed in June 2008, will house collections during construction of the main building and serve as an ongoing workspace and storage facility after construction is done.
* Location – Next to the Days of ’76 Rodeo Grounds.
* Main museum – 32,000 square feet.
* Storage facility – 6,300 square feet.
* Other improvements – Upgrade and expand the Days of ’76 Campground.
The first floor of the new facility will be used to display the Days of '76 Museum's large collection of horse-drawn wagons.
The bulk of the second-floor main level will be devoted to exhibit space for Native American and Wild West artifacts..
08/01/08 - AUCTION to benefit Days of '76 Capital Campaign
