GRAHAM COUNTY, Kan. (KSNW) — A new museum in western Kansas is bringing in hundreds of website visitors and drumming up company for the little town of Hill Town.
“We have experienced around 1,100 persons appear via this museum since we opened up in April of 2021 and
that’s 1,100 men and women, some of them are townspeople, but that is several people who are coming into our local community and both investing cash at the fuel station, at a restaurant, or downtown buying,” explained museum secretary Phyllis Weller.
The Graham County Vehicle & Art Museum is a one particular-of-a-form venue with dozens of traditional cars and trucks, antique tractors, and vehicles that have graced movie sets like “Paper Moon” and “Tucker.”
“We have received vehicles from the 20s to the 70s, and they all got character, class, and design and style,” stated museum board member Rick Roberts.
The museum is a labor of really like. A number of townspeople believed of the strategy in 2017.
“Basically on a aspiration and a prayer,” Weller stated.
When a constructing arrived up for sale in 2019, Weller and a several other people began looking for donors. Dozens of companies stepped up, as did Hill Town native and Boulder, Colorado organization icon Stephen Tebo.
“This is the Tebo area because Stephen Tebo was a significant donor to us. He has these autos on exhibit from his personal selection,” stated museum president Cory Simoneau as he gave KSN a tour in November.
Simoneau and other people connected to the museum credit history Tebo for building the museum what it is today.
“We would be open up, but we would not have this caliber of cars and trucks. He’s bought astounding high-quality of vehicles, significant assortment, and he is our principal contributor,” stated Roberts.
The museum capabilities about 30 traditional automobiles, like a handful from Tebo’s selection. The cars are on loan and are traded in and out just about every few months. In addition to Tebo’s autos are neighborhood autos from Hoxie, Hill Metropolis, Plainville and Hays.
“We have people who have cars and trucks that want to appear in, but they are on a waiting listing,” discussed Weller.
Which is excellent information for Hill Town and the encompassing region. Weller explained the more vehicles they rotate in and out of the museum, the additional probable they will travel site visitors to the town.
“That’s what any compact town requires, and which is just one of our vital points we want to do is bring folks to our group,” she explained.
“That’s what we are striving for, to assistance our group. All the board members were lifted right here, grew up listed here, and we don’t want to give up. We like what we are performing. We love it,” Roberts stated.
The Graham County Auto & Art Museum is found at U.S. 24 and U.S. 283. Admission is $5.