Barn Progress 2003

Press Release
On October 4, 2003 the museum purchased a barn which is located just south of Chambersburg at the intersection of the Molly Pitcher Highway and Loop Road directly across from the Franklin Storage buildings.  It is a German bank barn from the 1860’s to 1870’s.

The purchase of this barn marks the beginning of plans for the construction of a facility which will house climate-controlled storage, curatorial and conservation areas in addition to a meeting and workshop area, and more exhibit space.

When the long-range plan for AAMI was developed in 1999, one of the objectives was to provide the proper storage environment with climate control for the museum’s collections which would be built according to archival standards.  The primary action plan to fulfill that goal was to build a separate curatorial storage facility.

Storage space in the museum house has been at a premium for some time, in order to allow as many of the rooms in the house to be used for exhibit areas as possible.  Over the past number of months the directors have discussed and researched ideas which would make the primary action plan of building a separate storage facility a reality. 

The board hired Robert Smith, an architect from Kensington, Maryland, who developed a feasibility study for AAMI.  Smith is not a stranger to Franklin County.  He has worked with Wilson College on numerous projects since the mid 1980’s.  His most recently completed project at Wilson – the Hankey Center which houses their new archival facility – won the Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce’s Property Improvement Award for projects costing at least $500,000.  Smith is enthusiastic about AAMI’s barn facility and enjoys the challenge of unusual building projects.

Some of the considerations included in the concept were maintaining the historic integrity of the property, the aesthetics of placing another building in proximity to the 1860 house, and the stated purpose of AAMI which is to preserve, exhibit, and interpret, items that will serve to illustrate the history of the Borough of Greencastle and Antrim Township.

The history of the Irwin property includes a German-style bank barn, which was originally located where the northern end of the Greencastle-Antrim Middle School parking lot is. Taking that into consideration, the decision was made to accomplish the stated objective by preserving an existing barn.   The process of numbering, cataloging, dismantling, moving, and reassembling a building is not a new concept.  The National Park Service has done this many times.

A barn meeting the requirement for the project was located in Franklin County.  This barn is not exactly like the original barn but is of its German architectural style.  When the barn is completed it will probably not look exactly as it does now with red barn siding.  The lay of the museum’s grounds on the west side will naturally accommodate the bank style barn.  The “bank” entrance will make wheelchair accessibility very easy.  The lower level will house the climate-controlled storage, curatorial, and conservation areas while the upper level will be used for the meeting and workshop area, more exhibit space, and bathrooms.

The first phase will include moving the barn to the museum’s property, reassembling it, and completing one climate-controlled storage area.  At this point, the barn itself will be an exhibit, with agricultural displays, until the remaining three phases can be finished, depending on available funding.  The bank side of the barn will face east.

Eventually, the museum house can be used for more interpretive-type programs that will teach visitors about what the daily life of the Irwin family was like in Greencastle.  The Irwin’s lived in the museum house from 1860 to 1933.

The addition of the barn facility will allow Allison-Antrim Museum to expand its programs, attain the remaining long-range plan goals that have been set, and to become more of an integral part of the Greencastle-Antrim community by strengthening its partnership with the school district and helping to increase the economic vitality of the area.

And so, the next chapter begins in the history of Allison-Antrim Museum.
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