At Tuesday night’s meeting, Hopkinsville City Council heard from the executive director of the downtown museums who asked for the city to support an improvement project that would cost about $25,000.
Alissa Keller is the executive director of the Museums of Historic Hopkinsville-Christian County which includes the Pennyroyal Area Museum and the Woody Winfrey Fire-Transportation Museum, both located on East 9th Street.
Keller gave a brief background regarding the two museums and noted the iconic Woody Winfrey Fire-Transportation Museum was originally a fire station built in 1905 and then burned in 1924. The fire station was rebuilt within its walls and a local women’s club raised funds for the Clock Tower to be erected on top of the building a few years later. She said the building has served as an iconic landmark and as a way to alert the city of different things over the years.
After the Pennyroyal Area Museum underwent a $1.3 million renovation in 2019 and reopened in 2020, Keller said the Clock Tower and the Woody Winfrey Fire-Transportation Museum both need some attention. She said the Clock Tower was painted about four years ago and needs a fresh coat of paint.
In addition, Keller said the building itself needs a lot of work.
In the meantime, she said they can at least paint the town clock with an estimated cost of $20,000 that includes a lift which she stated was the most expensive part of the project. In addition, she said while they have the lift they want to finish a project at the Pennyroyal Area Museum to replace some broken window panes at an estimated cost of $5,000.
That opportunity may come soon.
On the Committee of the Whole meeting agenda for Thursday night is a Memorandum to council members from City Administrative Officer Troy Body encouraging the city to use a $50,000 T-Mobile grant for the benefit of the community. He is recommending the city council award $25,000 to the Woody Winfree Fire-Transportation Museum for painting and repairs and the other half of the grant to the Boys & Girls Club for technological upgrades.
Also at the meeting Tuesday night, Arthur Pendleton was appointed as first alternate to the Renaissance Design Review Board to fill the unexpired term of Diane Turner until October 31, 2024, with Katherine Demps and Diane Turner reappointed to this board with their terms expiring October 31, 2025.
And Karen Shields was reappointed to the Historic Preservation Commission to serve a term expiring November 30, 2025.
