Olney Heritage Museum Expands, Adds Podcast Studio
The Olney Heritage Museum is getting a major facelift this summer, transforming the historic downtown building at 213 E. Main St. into a larger community destination celebrating the town’s past while creating new opportunities for its future.
Construction began in May on a 26-by-50-foot addition to the back of the building, owned by the LF and Carla Perry Foundation. The ex- pansion is expected to be structurally complete by late August or early September, with exhibits and furnishings continuing to be installed through the fall.
The project will significantly increase the museum’s floor space, allowing for expanded exhibits dedicated to the history of Olney and its founding families, as well as interactive displays designed to engage children and families.
“There just wasn’t enough room to do a complete museum layout and have functions,” said foundation board member Justin Piegat. “We wanted to create something that tells Olney’s story in a chronological way while giving people a place to gather.”
Visitors will begin their journey with exhibits honoring the city’s founders and prominent families before moving through displays tracing Olney’s development over the decades.
The expanded museum will include a children’s discovery area featuring hands-on exhibits, including an Air Tractor aircraft fuselage that children can climb into, a lifesized Jersey cow where they can learn how dairy cows are milked, and an exhibit about the devastating tornado that struck Olney in the 1950s.
Other planned attractions include a recreated downtown storefront with an operating 1950s jukebox, a refurbished vintage pinball machine once found in a local business, old coin-operated rides that formerly stood outside Olney stores, a rotary telephone, a phone booth, a classic weightand- fortune machine, and other nostalgic artifacts recalling everyday life in Olney’s earlier years.
The expansion also looks toward the future.
A professional-grade podcast and music recording studio will occupy part of the new addition, giving local residents, organizations, and students access to equipment rarely found in rural communities. The studio will be available for public use and educational programs.
Foundation leaders have already met with Olney ISD officials to discuss bringing students into the museum and studio for hands-on learning opportunities.
Beyond museum exhibits, the addition is designed to serve as a community gathering place. The expanded facility will include flexible meeting space for town halls, public forums, and civic events, along with a serving kitchen equipped with a refrigerator, microwave, oven, and sink.
Mr. Piegat said the foundation hopes the museum will continue growing through donations from local families.
“We need people who have historical items from their families to donate them to the museum,” he said. “Whether it’s photographs, documents, military memorabilia or other pieces of Olney’s history, those are the things that help tell our community’s story.”
When complete, the expanded Olney Heritage Museum will preserve the community’s history while creating a modern space where future generations can learn, create, and share their own stories.