At the October 30, 2011, Annual Meeting of the Merrill Historical Society, a presentation was made to the membership regarding the phases of our New History & Culture Center plans.

Originally it was thought that an elevator addition with small lobby would be the best first step in our plans.  After receiving estimates that the construction of this important element would come within $100,000 of being able to put up a major portion of the new building, we worked with our architect to reorder the phases of construction to receive the maximum result from our investment.

PHASE I (Click here to see the floor plan) will be the main portion of the new addition.  It will have the lobby with reception area, library, collections area, accessible bathrooms and an exhibit area.  When construction starts in the Spring, if we have raised an additional amount of $150 to $200,000 in pledges and donations, we will be able to complete the "Pinery" addition which is now looked at as PHASE II.

Following the completion of the "Pinery", we will focus on PHASE III which will be the joining of the new building and the Heritage Center.  We will be able to use both buildings independently until that time arrives.  There will still be accessibility issues with the Heritage Center until a lift or elevator is provided.

Should we find ourselves in the happy position of having attained our total Fundraising Goal of $1,000,000, the entire project could be completed in 2012!  We look forward to providing you with updates on estimates and building progress as we approach February, 2012.