The Joplin City Council held a special work session Monday night. The focus was the future of the city's History and Mineral Museum. KRPS’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.
While the presentation regarding the future of Joplin’s History and Mineral Museum was last night, the process started over three years ago in the summer of 2020 when the city council voted to create a 12-person committee focused on the park.
They also relocated the Museum to the Division of Parks and Recreation. Just one year ago, in August of 2022, the city council approved a contract with PGAV Designations based in St. Louis to complete a strategic study with a focus on the next decade of the complex.
Vice President Diane Lochner of PGAV spoke on behalf of the company last night and told the city council that the History and Mineral Museum requires upgrades.
“The facility itself, we believe strategies include making it more welcoming, making it community-focused, perhaps having events and even participation from the community to create exhibits, and really making it a state-of-the-art facility as well.”
Lochner went on to highlight that the current location is difficult to find, and the exhibits are outdated. Also, current attendance is extremely low making revenue hard to generate.
PGAV also found that the museum is not held in high regard by the community and therefore not serving the community well.
No decisions or votes were cast last night. The work session was informational.
Click this link to see and learn more about the 117 slide presentation.
