DE PERE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The Mulva Cultural Center won’t be the only shiny new building in De Pere.
The Nelson Family Fund donated a million dollars to renovate the White Pillars Museum nearby.
The White Pillars building dates all the way back to 1836 and first served as the office for the Fox River Hydraulic Company.
The Historical Society has one of the largest digital archive collections in Wisconsin, which the group is hoping will become available online with the renovation.
“What we are looking at is actually a new building, which will house a portion of this building. The new building will have a full usable basement, two thirds of which will be used to house the archives,” says Boyd.
The other third of the basement will be used for technology and research.
“The upstairs, in addition to housing the front portion of this building, will be an open space which we will then use to tell De Pere’s wonderful story,” says Boyd.
The iconic white pillars aren’t going anywhere.
“The great thing about the glass, particularly in the front of it, it will allow us to highlight and showcase the existing white pillars building,” says Boyd.
The Nelsons left more than $100 million to the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region and asked the organization to take care of the things they cared about in the community.
“History, education, healthcare, walking trails, waterways,” says President and CEO of The Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region Curt Detjen.
The Community Foundation meets annually to invest in certain projects.
“This particular project with the De Pere Historical Society was met with a very enthusiastic affirmation, and they were thrilled,” says Detjen.
The entire renovation is expected to cost $6.5 million.
The project is expected to take about 16 months to complete, with a goal to start construction next spring.
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