The Jacksonville Area Museum’s latest exhibit on the Jacksonville Developmental Center has been a huge draw.
The exhibit opened this past weekend and saw several hundred people come through the museum.
Museum Manager McKenna Servis says people should come and visit as soon as possible to see the exhibit because upcoming renovations for the museum’s Phase II expansion may force the exhibit to move or change as space may become limited: “The museum is very lucky to have such widespread community support. Our construction phase for Phase II may start sooner rather than later, but we plan to keep the exhibit up as long as we possibly can. It may shrink or move, or maybe look a little different a few times in the next few months. However, it should be up for at least a year or two.”
Servis says that the work will also affect the rest of the current museum. She says that the whole museum will move into the expanded back half of the Old Post Office building: “The current U-shape kind of format that we are in right now is very temporary. We are very excited to be able to actually triple our exhibit space within the next few months. We are expecting that exhibits that are currently up may come down for awhile. MacMurray Hall will be greatly affected by the construction. That space [on the east side of the building] will be completely vacated. MacMurray’s displays will move into a different portion of the museum. We hope to stay open during all of this construction. We also realize that this is a really massive project, and we are just going to have to go with the flow and do what we have to do to open an even more amazing museum by 2025.”
The Jacksonville Area Museum, located at 301 East State Street, is open for regular hours on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10AM-4PM, and Sundays from 1-4. There is no cost for entry. However, a $5 donation per person is suggested to maintain operations and support the museum.