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Workers from Double G Construction prepare the foundation Wednesday for a new addition at the Cassia County Historical Museum. The new room will connect the main building with the World War II building behind it.

BURLEY — The Cassia County Historical Museum will soon have some added square footage and more security for the irreplaceable items housed there.

A 30-by-54 building is being added that will connect the museum’s main building and the World War II building behind it.

“It will give us more floor and wall space and increase the security with one way in and one way out of all the buildings,” Cassia County Museum Curator Janet Gorringe said.

Right now, she said, only the front part of the museum is open to the public, although they have security cameras in place throughout the buildings.

About four years ago a WWII flight jacket worth about $15,000 disappeared from the back building.

“The pants that went with it were left behind,” she said.

The WWII building includes Vietnam and Korean war displays and the South Idaho Press newspaper archive, and on the west side, it houses the museum’s larger pieces such as a stagecoach and farm equipment. The WWII building has a separate entrance, which will be eliminated with the addition.

Cassia County Historical Society President Rob Hutchison said the county is paying the estimated costs for the new addition of $140,000.

“It’s a county-owned building and will be considered a county building upgrade,” Hutchison said.

For the last 20 years the building had become run down and many repairs have been made in the past few years, he said.

“We are trying to improve on what we have and make people want to come in here,” he said.

The new building will add 1,520 square feet of display space and it will have open areas to host museum events and the board’s yearly membership dinner.

Hutchison, who owns a construction company, is volunteering his time to construct the steel building, which has already been purchased.

“That makes it affordable to do it right now,” Hutchison said.

Contractors will perform the work on the foundation and electrical and heating systems.

The space will eventually be climate controlled but about $20,000 is still needed to install the furnace and air conditioning systems.

“That will come later,” he said.

The Cassia County Historical Society and Museum is planning a community action this spring to raise money to join two buildings together.

Some 400 students made rope, churned butter, visited an old Idaho school house, learned about ghost towns and apple agriculture and toured the Cassia County Historical Society Museum.

The board has been working toward the addition for about eight years.

“I’m really excited,” Gorringe said.

There are a lot of stored items that the museum will now put on display, she said.

The museum would also like to eventually digitize the South Idaho Press newspapers and the photos at the museum, she said, but it is a very costly process.

The museum is a nonprofit organization.

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Workers from Double G Construction prepare the foundation Wednesday for a new addition at the Cassia County Historical Museum. The new room will connect the main building with the World War II building behind it.

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