BRODHEAD - The Brodhead Historical Society held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new addition to the downtown depot museum Wednesday morning amidst the brisk fall winds and a comedically timed fire call.
The addition is scheduled to open to the public by Memorial Day 2018.
Jaine Winters, the museum president, welcomed a crowd of about 30 people to the downtown museum as temperatures hovered in the low 30s. Winters explained the society board "dared" themselves into a big project. That project became an expansion. And after gaining an undisclosed amount of funds from the William S. "Bill" Knight Foundation and the Brodhead Area Foundation, the project took off.
"We received a very generous bequest from the William S. Knight Foundation, from Bill Knight himself before he passed away," Winters said. "We wanted to figure out what to do to honor him, as well as use the funds for our own perpetuity."
The Brodhead Historical Society's Museum is free of charge when open and is a nonprofit organization. William S. Knight was a Brodhead native and former president of Knight Manufacturing. He died in March 2016, but his legacy as a local philanthropist continues to live on through his foundation, which is currently headed by President Kirk Blumm.
"What a team effort," Blumm said on the museum project. "So many people were involved and it was great to see this thing start, and hopefully in the next several months we see it come to fruition.
"I know that for sure that Bill Knight would have been proud of this moment. He spoke many times that he was a firm believer in maintaining the heritage of your community - the history of your community. If you don't remember where you were, how are you going to move forward?"
The new wing will bear Knight's name. Winters cited the need for more space to house artifacts, as well as a desire to creatively help make the complex a better unit as a whole as the reason for the expansion.
"We've come into so many interesting things that have been donated by our area citizens and people that we're running out of space," Winters said.
Architect Jim Gersich of Dimension IV in Madison designed the 3,700-square-foot addition, which will be an L-shape with a courtyard facing east onto 2nd Avenue. The courtyard will have original welding works from Knight on display. Gilbank Construction of Clinton will build the museum extension.
"Hopefully this addition will allow us to do a little bit more with the Knight display," Blumm said. "And hopefully that will inspire some others in this community to do something that Stan Knight started. He had an idea, and with his great idea and team of people from this community, he was able to build a factory that's still in town today."
Brodhead Mayor Doug Pinnow added that it was a big day for both the city and the historical society.
"I think we're all interested in preserving the history of Brodhead and the history of the Knights," Pinnow said. "We're especially interested in bringing people into town - eat here, move here, shop here, come for touristy things."
The addition is scheduled to open to the public by Memorial Day 2018.
Jaine Winters, the museum president, welcomed a crowd of about 30 people to the downtown museum as temperatures hovered in the low 30s. Winters explained the society board "dared" themselves into a big project. That project became an expansion. And after gaining an undisclosed amount of funds from the William S. "Bill" Knight Foundation and the Brodhead Area Foundation, the project took off.
"We received a very generous bequest from the William S. Knight Foundation, from Bill Knight himself before he passed away," Winters said. "We wanted to figure out what to do to honor him, as well as use the funds for our own perpetuity."
The Brodhead Historical Society's Museum is free of charge when open and is a nonprofit organization. William S. Knight was a Brodhead native and former president of Knight Manufacturing. He died in March 2016, but his legacy as a local philanthropist continues to live on through his foundation, which is currently headed by President Kirk Blumm.
"What a team effort," Blumm said on the museum project. "So many people were involved and it was great to see this thing start, and hopefully in the next several months we see it come to fruition.
"I know that for sure that Bill Knight would have been proud of this moment. He spoke many times that he was a firm believer in maintaining the heritage of your community - the history of your community. If you don't remember where you were, how are you going to move forward?"
The new wing will bear Knight's name. Winters cited the need for more space to house artifacts, as well as a desire to creatively help make the complex a better unit as a whole as the reason for the expansion.
"We've come into so many interesting things that have been donated by our area citizens and people that we're running out of space," Winters said.
Architect Jim Gersich of Dimension IV in Madison designed the 3,700-square-foot addition, which will be an L-shape with a courtyard facing east onto 2nd Avenue. The courtyard will have original welding works from Knight on display. Gilbank Construction of Clinton will build the museum extension.
"Hopefully this addition will allow us to do a little bit more with the Knight display," Blumm said. "And hopefully that will inspire some others in this community to do something that Stan Knight started. He had an idea, and with his great idea and team of people from this community, he was able to build a factory that's still in town today."
Brodhead Mayor Doug Pinnow added that it was a big day for both the city and the historical society.
"I think we're all interested in preserving the history of Brodhead and the history of the Knights," Pinnow said. "We're especially interested in bringing people into town - eat here, move here, shop here, come for touristy things."