Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Cultural Heritage topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Sunnyside Museum trustees hand city keys to new $192,000 storage building to protect artifacts
Summary
Trustees of the Sunnyside Museum and Historical Association completed a multi-year effort to build and donate a 40-by-50-foot, climate-capable storage building — funded entirely by the association — and formally handed the key to the city. The building will house artifacts that nearly led to dissolution of the nonprofit in 2023.
Trustees of the Sunnyside Museum and Historical Association presented the city a newly completed storage building on Monday and formally returned control of the museum property to the city.
After years of staffing changes, declining attendance and an earlier vote in 2023 that nearly dissolved the association, new trustees elected in late 2023 directed association funds to construct a 40-by-50-foot storage building to protect the museum’s artifacts. The association funded the project entirely from its own resources; trustees told council the building cost $192,000 and that final inspection was approved March 27, 2025.
Why it matters: The new storage building gives the city a climate-protected space to catalogue and preserve local artifacts that had been vulnerable in attic and uninsulated metal-shed storage. Trustees said the building will allow volunteers to inventory and conserve items including vintage clothing, uniforms, photographs and family histories.
What the trustees told council Sis Kennard, president of the Sunnyside Museum and Historical Association, outlined the trustees’ concern in 2023 that the museum’s artifacts could be imperiled if the nonprofit dissolved. She described the trustee campaign to move artifacts from exposed storage and to raise money for the new structure. "Seven people saved the history of Sunnyside," Kennard said, asking trustees to stand as she introduced them. The association then formally presented a key to the city and indicated they would terminate their prior agreement on the property at 718 Fourth Street.
Council response Mayor and council members praised the trustees for their work and thanked volunteers and the fire department, whose members helped move artifacts into the new building. The city manager and council members emphasized that more work is needed to repair and display items inside the museum building itself, but described the storage building as an important step toward preserving Sunnyside history.
Ending Trustees asked for community help to continue inventory and preservation work. City staff accepted the key and said the city will work with volunteers and trustees to plan the museum’s next steps.
