Commission awards bid to remove Veterans Museum dock

Published 6:15 am Wednesday, February 21, 2018

The goal of building a new Alabama Veterans Museum & Archives took a step forward Tuesday with the awarding of a bid to demolish the concrete dock behind the current museum.

The Limestone County Commission unanimously voted to award a bid of $14,900 to Hawkins Ground Work Inc. for the removal of the large loading dock and dispose of the debris. The dock has been at the site since the early 1900s and was used more frequently when the museum was a train depot.

“I’m kind of curious to see what’s under there,” said Sandy Thompson, director of the Alabama Veterans Museum. “Maybe (the dock removal) will get the public’s interest up.”

Museum supporters have been actively raising money for a new building for several years. The museum and its numerous displays have simply outgrown the old train depot.

It’s also faced a number of other issues, including the occasional leaky roof. Because the building is owned by Limestone County, taxpayers foot the bill for any repairs.

Jerry Crabtree, who chairs the museum board, said about $200,000 has been raised for the project thus far. He added officials are shooting to have close to $1 million in donations and pledges by Memorial Day.

“We’re in the infant stage of fundraising mode,” he said. “We’ve got our teams going out now and meeting with people we can get money from.”

Thompson said the museum would again host the Memorial Day ceremony at the Limestone County Event Center. Following that observance, the public will be invited to the museum to see a presentation about the new museum.

Commission Chairman Mark Yarbrough described the museum as “a worthy cause.” He said the commission is happy to do what it could to “move the project forward.”