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Proposal provides roadmap for the future

Reprinted courtesy of The Grinnell-Herald Register. The graphic above shows how the main eastern building of the Spaulding buggy works may look after conversion to the historic core of the Iowa Transportation Museum. The proposal envisions converting the building into a two-story exhibition space in which visitors would follow a timeline tracing the development of transportation themes through history. There would be various layers of interpretation to meet different visitors’ interest and abilities, balancing contextual information with the interactive elements and hands-on activities. The proposed floor plan shows the conceptual division of the facility into “wings” with the core educational and exhibition space at its heart.
Schematics for the floorplan of the future Iowa Transportation Museum envision the facility’s historic core as a two-story exhibition space guiding visitors of all ages on a journey through time, highlighting the ideas, events and people that have shaped our transportation history.
The proposal unveiled at a public meeting here in February and accepted in final form by the ITM board at its meeting last week. The ideas embodied in the proposal are not written in stone, but rather establish the direction and framework for “next steps” on the road to re-inventing the historic Spaulding buggy works here as a 21st century educational facility and destination.
The proposals were created by Vincent Ciulla of Ciulla Designs, in cooperation with David Goodman of Design Craftsman, and build on two years of behind-the-scenes work on the major project.
The proposal focuses on the historic buildings which face Spring St. between Fourth Ave. and the railroad tracks. In fact, the entire Spaulding campus is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and belongs to the ITM, but the eastern buildings will be the focus of the museum and are for now the focus of the board. How to best use the massive western building has yet to be determined.
Floorplans for the museum facility envision the spaces and functions there divided roughly into three parts. The core educational and historic function will be housed in the large central building, with educational and rental facilities to the North, and a resources and exhibition wing to the south near the tracks.
The northernmost portion, including the Spaulding company’s Administration Building at the corner of Fourth and Spring – more recently known as the home of the American Legion here – and the two-story glass atrium which will connect it with the main exhibition space to the south, will be the education and rental wing.
The Administration Building itself could eventually hold a theater or auditorium where visitors can be introduced to the facility, and mult-purpose space which can be used for educational functions and public events, and also be rented for private functions.
The atrium, which will be new construction, will house restrooms, and elevators the facility needs – rather than trying to ask the historic Administration Building to absorb these functions – and will also serve as the lobby with information, gathering space and coat check.
The building space along the railroad tracks on the southern edge of the campus will most likely house a restoration lab and special exhibition space on the first floor, with a library, archives and staff space up above.
The core exhibition space in the main building will be structured around a timeline, which visitors will follow in counter-clockwise fashion to trace transportation themes, beginning with the Native Americans, telling the stories of the movement of goods and people across the land. Plans call for using the full first-floor of the main building, and then continuing the timeline around the outside on a second floor which will essentially be a large balcony overlooking the first floor – creating a two-story exhibition space in the interior of the facility which allows for interesting exhibition opportunities.
Along the way on the timeline, visitors will be exposed to a multitude of developments and themes, touching on trails, rivers, roads, rails, air, and beyond and including such focal points as, for example: Jefferson’s grid, immigration and settling of the country, Iowa’s “out of the mud” roadbuilding era which followed the invention of the automobile and the economic import of the transportation system.
Plans also envision telling about people and inventions integral to the development of transportation in this country, and Iowa’s many specific contributions to that vibrant and ever evolving story.
There is a focus in the plans on providing a facility for the whole family, and to suiting different people’s appetite for information and experience, the designers say. The general timeline framework will be interpreted in three layers, tentatively themed using the stoplight colors: red for detailed contextual information, yellow for interactive questions-and-answer opportunities to learn more of the story, and green for hands-on activities which encourage learning by doing.
Many of the hands-on opportunities will probably target the future by targeting children.
“Education is one of the main drivers of the project,” says ITM Director Chuck Brooke. “We want children to learn how transportation evolved and how this has affected the economy…We also hope to have a place where kids can “play the part” by putting on the uniforms of an airline pilot or a road engineer or a state trooper to encourage children to pursue careers in the area of transportation.”
“This not going to be a massive holding collection, he noted, saying providing and education experience “as opposed to an antique mall with a lot of artifacts in it” remained the goal.
Other hands-on experiences will be provided in the restoration lab, and the board is also looking at the concept of having mini-version of the downtown Grinnell streetscape where tikes on trikes can have fun learning the rules of the road. An exhibit like that would probably be located in the outdoor courtyard space directly to the west of the historic buildings – an area which holds tremendous potential for outdoor exhibition space as well as for hosting gatherings and shows.
Brooke said in presenting the culmination of the design work to the ITM board last week, Ciulla and Goodman broke the work ahead on the massive project into phases.
“They put this plan together fully aware that we would not be able to do the whole thing at once,” Brooke said. “It is designed so we can grow in stages – so we can grow from this phase to this phase and it won’t look half-done. That will be helpful.”
Phase 1 includes the Administration Building and the adjacent glass atrium, and goes about a quarter of the way into the core building, Brooke said. The time frame is contingent upon fundraising, and he said the current focus is on finding corporate sponsorships for various parts of the plan.
Brooke said the board hopes to secure $3 million in corporate sponsorships for exhibition space, and is working on raising $5 million necessary to finish the buildings so they are ready to house the exhibition space.
Recently, the city of Grinnell upped its pledge to the project, promising $100,000 per year for ten years from hotel/motel tax proceeds – up from the original pledge of $25,000 per year. That million-dollar vote of confidence from the city is restricted to funding bricks-and mortar progress and given with the understanding that the ITM will coordinate its Grinnell fundraising with other local fund drives.
“The city has jumped through hoops for us,” Brooke said. “They’ve been very helpful.”
Brooke said the ITM’s corporate sponsorship drive is statewide in scope, although “we continue to receive donations from people interested in our project.”
The timing of the progress on the buildings and exhibition space is dependent on funding. Meanwhile, work continues on the restoration of the only existing Spaulding car-a complicated craftsmanlike restoration which Brooke says is progressing well in the able hands of Pat Brooks.
“The museum’s restoration lab is actually at a remote site right now, up there at Pat Brooks’ shop in Marshalltown.” Brooke smiles, describing the custom work underway on the project. “Work is going along really well on the car.”
People are also encouraged to participate in the current on-line arm of the ITM, its interactive Web-based Heroes Center, funding in part by Transportation Enhancement funds administered by the Iowa Department of Transportation.
Log on at TransporatationHeroes.org to nominate individuals who made or make a difference in the transportation industry. You may nominate heroes in one of three categories: “Heroes by Example,” include workers who have accomplished their everyday job in an extraordinary way; “Heroes of Industry and Technology,” including those who have made significant contributions in transportation-related industries or technologies; and “Heroes of Valor,” representing transportation workers who have placed their life at risk – either willingly or unknowingly – while on the job.
The mission of the Iowa Transportation Museum is to explore the evolution of transportation, making it come alive to enhance our understanding of how transportation systems and workers contribute to the culture and quality of life we enjoy. For further information about the museum, visit IowaTransportationMuseum.com.