ES Historical Museum houses 40 years of Eureka history

The year 1969 turned out to be a great year for Eureka Springs after a decade of almost unexplainable economic downturn. As the Chamber of Commerce president read out a long list of accomplishments for the year just ending, Eurekans were more than ready to look ahead with hope and expectation of continuing good times to come.

That year's Ozark Folk Festival had been an especially successful one, and the board of directors, hard-working, creative planners and workers all, determined this was the year to take action on a plan dear to their hearts.

Folk Festival pledges support

Each year's Festival proceeds above expenses had been donated to a variety of worthwhile community efforts and projects since the annual Festival began in 1948, but this year would mark the establishment of a Museum of Local History for a unique community just 90 years old, yet having created such a remarkable story that threatened to be lost in the midst of rapidly changing times and ways.

The Calif building, a large three-storey limestone, situated on S. Main St. was for sale. Constructed by the Samuel Calif family in 1889, to be a general store-residence-rooming house, appeared to the Festival board to be an excellent choice for their proposed Historical Museum. Every member of that board put their signature on the line to assure the repayment of a bank loan for the purchase price. The Museum was about to become a reality.

The advisory committee

The next step was to put together an advisory committee of other enthusiastic townspeople charged with the specific task to gather, record and exhibit artifacts and memorabilia of Eureka Springs history. The collection grew rapidly as hundreds of items were donated and the Museum was ready to open to the public on a regular schedule during 1970-71.

The Festival board stayed true to its responsibility to retire the mortgage, dedicating the proceeds after expenses from each of the next 10 annual Folk Festivals for that purpose. In 1980, the loan was paid in full. The volunteers of the Museum advisory committee and the Festival directors celebrated by "burning the mortgage" in a public ceremony.

Incorporation

The Folk Festival board then set up Eureka Springs Historical Museum, Inc. under Arkansas law, a non-profit association of accredited members fully authorized to own outright the Calif building, and establish, maintain and operate a Museum within it. The Museum is not city or county-owned and does not receive public tax funds. It is always dependent on annual grants, fundraising efforts and admissions from visitors who tour the Museum.

The Museum is open year 'round on a seven-day, weekly schedule. It also houses an official tourist information center in return for which the CAPC pays a monthly stipend which does assure that utilities can be paid on time. In all its long history of service to this community, the Museum has operated literally on a shoe-string budget, always dependent on the donations of community members and organizations.

New fundraising program

An ongoing funding effort recently instigated is the Museum Pillar project which involves donors who will sign up to have regular amounts dedicated to and paid from their own private bank accounts on a schedule they themselves determine. The funds derived are paid to the Historical Museum by the bank and can provide a dependable flow of income for Museum purposes. Full details about the Pillar project are available at the Museum or from current board members.

A community institution that quietly and effectively serves the needs of a city whose economy depends fully upon tourism attracted by its authentic, documented history must surely have a worth beyond measure. Without question, it deserves our continued volunteerism and financial support in keeping with the current-day operation costs familiar to all of us.