Antiques move to new home

Boxes of old goodies relocated to Boulder Dam Hotel, library

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An ice box from the '30s, a rusty yellow sign from the Nelson area saying "9 miles to the Boulder Dam Hotel," a wooden Rid-Jid ironing board, a Babcock & Wilcox vise used to fabricate Hoover Dam's penstocks and many more items are all finding a new home.

Up until now, these relics from Boulder City's past had been warehoused in the old Post Office building at 549 California Ave., next to the police station.

But one by one, box by box, everything is being relocated to the depths of the Boulder Dam Hotel or, in some cases, the basement of the Boulder City Library.

"The credit union said we had to be out in six months, which is March 9," said Boulder City Museum and Historical Association President Cheryl Ferrence as a three-member work crew consisting of the museum's curator, Dennis McBride, and helpers Diane Greene and Tom Casey toted artifacts to an awaiting pick-up truck. "We're also hoping to have a rummage sale March 11 on the loading dock. We won't be selling any archived material, just some of the furniture that was replaced at the hotel and other things that have been donated that are not really historic or give meaning to the city's past. Before Dennis got here, people would donate things that just kind of showed up here."

Vacation of the building became necessary when escrow closed between the association and the Boulder Dam Credit Union last September.

Disposing of the property involved a three-way deal among the two parties and the city, which saw the museum sell the 6,000-square-foot lot and its 47-year-old building for $170,000 to the credit union so the financial institution can demolish the 4,000-square-foot building and clear the land for an employee parking lot.

However, the controversial issue the city council wrestled with and agreed to at its April 26 meeting was the lifting of a deed restriction that had required the museum to use the building only for "archival, research and other activities in support of the museum," which had been in place ever since the museum bought the property from the city in October 2002.

With the day to vacate only a little over a week away, most of the antiquities have been moved out, but an even bigger job lies ahead.

"Part of the museum's mission is to collect and preserve and make things available to researchers," McBride said while touring the hotel's basement area. "Our plan is to provide a research area, which is why we've taken over the space down here. We hope to get set up with volunteers who will come in and help process things. Some day, too, we hope to have people, like volunteers, come and be here more. That way they can offer to help people more."

The additional square footage should give McBride more breathing room in his workspace, which was cramped with hardly any room to turn around, let alone do research.

"I had a guy come downstairs the other day who wanted to do some research," McBride told Ferrence as they stood in what used to be the Chamber of Commerce's office. "But it was hard to even set up a card table and still be able to move around."

For now, the hotel's basement rooms are stacked in an orderly but crowded manner, full of boxes, books and a treasure trove filled with documents, photographs, posters and newspapers that have recorded the city's past for generations to come.

Very few physical hands-on objects have been relocated to the hotel. Instead, nearly all have been sent to the library, where safe storage is guaranteed, because of the space needed.

To aid in sorting and processing thousands upon thousands of two-dimensional artifacts -- Ferrence admits there are more than enough to keep a small band of volunteers busy for a lifetime -- McBride is asking for a new computer system for archival work.

McBride said the museum will be putting many of the warehoused items on display in rotating exhibits in the months and years ahead and that he hopes to continue exhibiting outside the museum in sites such as the Nevada State Veterans Home and the credit union lobby.

The hotel itself, which the association owns, is looking to put some of the historic items to use by decorating rooms with era pieces that will give customers the feeling that they're hobnobbing with Cornelius Vanderbilt or Howard Hughes or dancing on the good ship Lollipop with Shirley Temple.

In the meantime, as if there wasn't already enough work for McBride and his crew, Ferrence said there's even more artifacts to be discovered.

"We've got two semi trucks out at the railroad yard someplace," she said. "And most of us don't have any idea what's out there."