Rehoboth museum seeks $175,000 to finish second floor

The Rehoboth Beach Museum is turning to the community for help to raise $175,000 needed to finish the museum’s second floor.

Museum Director Nancy Alexander said the museum is starting to seek bids for the work. The new space will house a large storage area for the museum’s archives, a research library, exhibit and administrative space, and a room for events, Alexander said.

She said construction will not close the museum.

“As long as it doesn’t affect the downstairs operations, we’re not locked into doing it over the winter,” she said. Once the money is raised, work can begin at a time when it does not impinge on operations downstairs, Alexander said.

The total cost of the second-floor renovations is $600,000; the big-ticket item is an elevator, Alexander said.

Alexander said the entryway will be converted to a vestibule, leading to the main exhibit space and adjacent to the multipurpose room used for events. The rear of the second floor will have the library and workspaces.

Alexander said the museum is seeking private donations from the community, although she added funding from foundations will also be sought.

“This museum belongs to the community. The community has supported us to this point, and the community will help get us over the top,” she said.

The building has been in existence since 1925, Alexander said, built by John Lingo as an ice house. It later served as a liquor store before the city purchased it and leased it to the Rehoboth Beach Historical Society for the museum. The facility opened in 2007 but only the first floor has been open to the public.

“It’s very exciting,” she said. People drop off donations that show the history of the city. “When we can get more of those items out, that’s the exciting thing for me. What we have is just really the tip of the iceberg,” Alexander said.