Muskegon County Museum takes on new name

April 29, 2009
By Marla Miller
Muskegon Chronicle

The Lakeshore Museum Center will debut Friday when the Hackley & Hume Historic Site and other museum-owned properties open for the tourist season.

The county museum at 430 W. Clay has evolved from a single museum site to a campus environment offering tours of a natural and cultural history museum, the Fire Barn Museum, a house museum of the Depression Era and the homes of Muskegon's most famous lumber barons. The four sites are within walking distance from one another in downtown Muskegon.

The operation is supported by a countywide millage.

The renaming of the museum was the culmination of more than a year's work assessing how the institution could better serve the public and involved the input of about 100 museum staff and board members and volunteers. The study included the use of focus groups, along with written and telephone surveys to residents, according to John McGarry, executive director.

"We did very extensive surveys with a major marketing firm and there was great confusion in the community over the fact we have two museums," he said. "We found that there was a need to better explain who we are and what we do."

The results indicated many people were unaware that the museum included four separate sites. And, due to the similarity in names, there has been continual confusion between the Muskegon County Museum and the Muskegon Museum of Art at 296 W. Webster.

County museum receptionist Lorene Vandermeer and other staff members field about a half-dozen phone calls each day from people who ask for the art museum or another organization, she said.

The museum also delays programs and special events because there are always a few stragglers who have gotten lost or been to the art museum first, McGarry said.

The use of the word Lakeshore recognizes the regional appeal of the four historic sites. Visitors and school groups routinely visit from neighboring counties and beyond. The use of the word Center indicates that the institution is more than a single building, McGarry said.

The museum has been at its current location, the former Muskegon YWCA, since 1983 and is open year-round, every day except holidays, with free admission.

Other sites include: The Hackley & Hume Historic Site at Sixth and Webster; The Fire Barn Museum at 510 W. Clay, which tells the history of local firefighting; and next door, The Scolnik House -- A Historic House of the Depression Era, recreating life of two fictional families living during the Depression. Staff and volunteer docents provide guided tours of the sites Wednesdays through Sundays from May through October.