ABERDEEN, Wash. — A group of volunteers hope to help a museum rise from the ashes in Aberdeen.
The Friends of the Aberdeen Museum secured property to replace a museum gutted by fire.
The Aberdeen Museum of History lost 75% of its contents when the building caught fire in June of 2018. But volunteers, along with help from state archivists, preserved what survived: photographs, documents, logging equipment and a fire truck.
Saturday afternoon, the organization is hosting an open house to let people see the new museum property; the old Sears store at 118 West Wishkah in downtown Aberdeen.
Ruth Hamilton, president of the Friends of the Aberdeen Museum, said they are looking for support and suggestions about what the new museum should have on display. She said the all-volunteer organization is determined to re-open the museum.
Hamilton said Aberdeen’s history includes stories of brave loggers, brothel-lined streets, and Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain.
“Aberdeen was a wild city,” said Hamilton. “For those of us that are history buffs, it’s just a passion, and we want to tell the stories of our people and our community because it forms where we are today.”
Organization treasurer Nancy Cuyle, born and raised in Aberdeen, remembers what her parents taught her as a child.
”Preserving the history is key. They were so passionate about it, and so involved, I just had to carry it on,” said Cuyle.