KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A museum that has been a staple in the City Market for over 30 years is still searching for a new home after a proposed move to St. Charles, Missouri, fell through.
Museum owner David Hawley told KSHB 41 News Wednesday that the city of St. Charles called him about potentially moving into the area, leading to him signing a letter of intent back in May.
But a proposal from St. Charles Mayor Dan Borgmeyer and Mike Klinghammer, economic development director, last month forced Hawley to find a new space.
"Their proposal was to build a smaller museum than what we have presently," Hawley said.
Hawley had questions about how the current amount of artifacts would fit into a smaller space. Their answer was to sell what they couldn't fit.
"We didn't want to sell it," Hawley said. "If we wanted to sell it, we'd have sold it already. We want to keep the collection together."
Hawley not only wants to keep the collection together, but he wants to increase it with the addition of another steamboat called Malta. The Malta carried Indian supplies and trade goods and sank in 1841.
The museum has only done test drilling on Malta, and it seems to Hawley that the steamboat is intact and in one piece.
"If that [is] the case, we'd like to bring the boat up out of the ground so you would have not only its collection but the boat itself," Hawley said.
Hawley is expecting an additional 30,000-35,000 square feet for a new museum space to house the collection.
"If we could have somewhere around 75,000 square feet [in total,] I think that would be a great place to start," Hawley said.
He estimates the price tag would be around $50 million to build an expanded space.
Hawley said it is not possible to add Malta to their current location because they have maxed out the capacity of the space.
"The City Market is not the answer," Hawley said.
Hawley is not currently in discussions with KCMO, which he describes as home, about a new space. However, he has talked with other cities in Missouri as well as a representative of Kansas City, Kansas.
"I'd rather stay here if I could," Hawley said. "But if I can't, [then] I'll go wherever it takes to go."
He is hopeful that the museum will find a new spot to dock both steamboats.
"We'll find a place, I do believe, I really do," Hawley said.
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