After having its second highest visitation numbers of all time in 2023, Shawnee Town 1929 is looking to make some changes to keep the momentum going.
In 2023, the outdoor museum reported having about 154,000 visitors. This year, it’s looking to welcome similar numbers with new amenities, including technology-driven educational tools and a new building. Shawnee Town 1929 is also launching a capital campaign for more future projects.
“I think we’re beginning to see the fruits of our labor, of our program changes and the robustness of our offerings,” said Museum Director Charlie Pautler.
An app-guided tour is coming
Hannah Howard, education curator for the museum, said she believes one of the reasons the museum’s numbers have remained high after the COVID-19 pandemic is its evolving ways to engage the public.
It is looking to continue that approach by developing an app-guided tour of the museum, expected to launch in the spring.
“This is intended to provide any visitor of any age with the ability to explore the spaces on their own and access as much information as they want in those spaces in the most engaging way possible,” she said.
The app will offer oral histories of Shawnee from its residents, as well as photos and videos. Howard said that as time goes on, it will be updated with new stories and multimedia.
A chapel is in in the works
Since 2022, the museum has been pushing for the addition of a chapel as wedding and event space as a way to generate more revenue.
On Nov. 13, 2023, Shawnee City Council voted 6-1 to move forward and direct staff to re-engage with the project for bid, pick up an architect and bring the final design to the
council. Councilmember Tony Gillette was in dissent, and Kurt Knappen was absent.
While Pautler is hoping construction can start in the in the summer for a 2025 launch, he is waiting to see what bids will come in for the budgeted $1.2 million project.
“We are building very specialized-type buildings with lots of special windows and special molding and special doors and fabrics and everything from the fixtures to the furnishings,” he said. “So in a modern contractor world, a lot of times those costs tend to trend upward.”
The Museum will launch a capital campaign
At Monday’s Shawnee City Council meeting, Pautler said the museum will lay out its proposal for a three-year, $11-million-dollar capital campaign. About $6 million are expected to be paid by the City of Shawnee and $5 million through private donors.
The plan includes building six new structures, including a visitor’s center for the Johnson Drive side of the museum near the town hall, as part of a large expansion project.
“It will fulfill a need that we’ve had really, since the museum was created back in 1966,” Pautler said. “We are looking forward to making the community aware of what our needs are for the site.”
Go deeper: Shawnee Town 1929 explores $11M capital campaign. Here’s what it would pay for.
