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City of Lincoln
Mayor offers two possible options for the future of Lincoln Heritage
Museum
[August 17, 2026]
Mayor Tracy Welch outlined two
options for preserving the Lincoln Heritage Museum after the Lincoln
College campus is sold at the Tuesday, August 11 meeting of the
Lincoln City Council
The Lincoln College Board of Trustees is offering to gift the assets
of the museum to the city of Lincoln, along with $250,000.
Welch said the first option, and originally what seemed like the
best, was to utilize the money for the everyday running of the
museum at its current location. He said there were benefits to
keeping the museum there, especially that the costly climate control
system was already in place and would protect the assets. In
addition, the new owner said he was willing to rent the space at
little or no cost.
Welch said that in looking at the current situation however, it
takes about $36,000 per year to cover the overhead before the salary
of the museum Director. The total expense came to $100,000 per year.
Therefore, the money provided would last only about two years.
Welch added that, even though the buyer may rent the building at
little or even no cost, there is an expectation that he might ask
for the city to make certain concessions, such as tax abatement or
sewer abatement.
Welch moved on to his second option. He said that the contents could
be moved to the basement of the Museum of Route 66 on Broadway
Street. There were advantages and drawbacks. First, the overhead
costs would go away, and the city would save $36,000 per year.
Secondly, the city would not need to hire an employee. He had
discussed this with the current museum director Ron Keller and made
him aware that his job would go away with this option. Welch said he
talked to Keller about coming on as a consultant who would assist
with the relocation and new design in the basement at a rate of
$30,000.
Welch said there would be cost in
acquiring the assets in the form of assessment of value and
inventory. Security in the new location was not much of a concern as
there is a vault in the basement for securing certain assets, and an
alarm system is installed upstairs. Welch figured there could be
additional cameras and other security measures added to the existing
system.
Concerns for using the basement
include ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant features.
Currently the only means of getting to the basement is a set of
stairs. There would need to be an elevator installed or some sort of
conveyance. In addition, the only ADA compliant restrooms in the
building are on the incubator side of the structure. On occasion
guests would need to be taken out of the museum and into the
incubator area for use of public facilities.
Welch summarized saying he felt like option one was just delaying
the inevitable, while option two was setting the course for a better
future for the museum.
With the floor open for alderman participation, Alderman Steve
Parrott spoke first saying that he would like to hear opinions on
the topic. One thing he considers is that currently the museum does
charge an admission fee but has only an average of nine visitors per
day. In its current location, the museum does not add enough revenue
to contribute to its own support.
Parrott commented that even if the city kept the museum in its
current location, that building is connected to the gymnasium. The
building of the whole could be “parceled out” to other tenants.
Alderwoman Robin McClallen wondered if the Lincoln Heritage Museum
could be relocated to the ground floor of the space on Broadway
Street, perhaps in the area currently designated at the incubator.
Welch said that part of the building was broken into separate spaces
with walls throughout that would be complicated to work with for the
museum artifacts.
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Alderman Kevin
Bateman said that he would be opposed to moving the museum to
the basement of any building. He noted that the downtown area
has a history of sewer issues with the old infrastructure and
that Lincoln overall has water issues in basements.
Bateman said he would add a third
option of reaching out to the Lincoln Presidential Museum in
Springfield and giving over at least a portion of the assets to them
on loan. He said they would still belong to the city but would be at
the Springfield museum. Bateman said if that museum took part of the
assets, then perhaps the city could find better space for displaying
a smaller quantity.
Alderman Sam Downs asked about the $250,000 was it contingent upon
the city taking all the assets. Welch said yes and no. The money was
to assist with operational costs in part.
Downs asked about climate control issues. Would the city just have
to put climate control in the basement vault. Welch said no, it
would have to be in the entire area. Welch had said earlier that in
addition the basement should be waterproofed.
Parrott asked if there was any thought to putting the assets at the
Depot. Welch said that was already established as a meeting venue,
and people were reserving it for such. In addition, there are
already issues with heating and air conditioning in the depot.
Woodhall said that he knew that proper climate control systems would
cost upward toward $400 a square foot.
Alderman Stan Anderson said he didn’t think there was enough solid
data to make a decision. There has been speculation on costs and
other factors but nothing that is truly fact. Anderson said he too
had doubts about using a basement. His other concern was that, no
matter what, the city was talking about a lot of spending. It was
hard to do when there are so many other issues, such as roads and
sewers that need to be addressed throughout the city. His thought
was about the future and after the first pot of money is gone, the
city will still need to support the museum regardless of where it
is.
Welch said that the city has not yet really had the opportunity for
a “good discussion” on the topic, and that it was not yet time for a
decision. He said there were still situations that the college
trustees were working through that he personally could not speak of,
but those decisions by the trustees could have an impact on the
museum assets.
Welch said he felt the main goal should be, and is, to keep the
assets in Lincoln. He added that he wants to go about this carefully
and does not want their best intentions to harm the artifacts.
He finished saying that it had been a
good discussion and he would take all the alderpersons’ thoughts and
opinions back to the college trustees for further discussion. Welch
said that the dissolution of the college had begun, and he
anticipated things would start moving along at a faster pace. He
added that it could be that everything would remain where it is as
it is while the city works to come up with a better plan.
There was no action items placed on the next voting agenda for this
topic. It is expected that talks will continue with the trustees as
well as future discussions at city council meetings.
[Nila Smith]
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