Fund drive starts for new Deadwood cultural center

By Steve Miller, Journal staff | Thursday, December 27, 2007

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Organizers have launched a $700,000 fund drive to complete a $1.6 million transformation of the F.L. Thorpe building in Deadwood into a new research and cultural center.

The new Homestake–Adams Research and Cultural Center will offer a variety of public programs, including those that emphasize the area’s history and natural history. It will also house the records of the Homestake Gold Mine, Adams Museum, Historic Adams House and Henry J. Frawley legal collection.

Total cost of the renovation is projected at $1.6 million with another $200,000 needed to start public programming at the center, including a sculpture garden in front of the building, according to Mary Kopco, director of the Adams Museum & House, Inc.

Phase one of construction is scheduled to begin next week on the Thorpe building under the direction of Stateline No. 7 Architects and general contractor Scull Construction. Phase Two is planned to begin on May 1, 2008.

The renovation is expected to take until at least summer of 2009, Kopco said in a phone interview Wednesday. However, the Homestake collection must be removed from the Yates building in Lead by September 2008 because of development of the science laboratory there, Kopco said.

The $1.6 million capital campaign was announced Wednesday.

Cultural center officials have received word that the Great Plains Education Foundation has awarded the project $300,000 for capital costs in 2008 and an additional $200,000 in 2009 for public programming.

The Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission has dedicated $500,000 of bonded funds to renovate the building. In addition, $100,000 of a $500,000 grant from the Adams-Mastrovich Family Foundation in the name of the late Mary Adams Balmat, has been earmarked for the capital project.

An additional $700,000 is needed to retrofit, develop climate controls and furnish the 17,000-square-foot cultural and research center, according to a news release.

The F.L. Thorpe building was constructed in 1989 by the F.L. Thorpe Co. and has sat empty in recent years, Kopco said.

It is within walking distance of the Adams House, Adams Museum, Deadwood City Hall and Mount Moriah, she said.

“It creates a lovely campus of cultural and heritage tourism,” she said. “It’s just a great use of a building that was underutilized.”

The new center will feature traveling exhibits, including some that are based on the area’s natural history, Kopco said. “It will not function as a museum. It will function as a cultural center,” she said.

It will offer people an opportunity to do research, and it will provide public programs such as lectures, classes and workshops, Kopco said. Classes will include those offered by Black Hills State University, South Dakota School of Mines & Technology and other universities. 

She said the Homestake collection has plenty of information about the geology of the Black Hills, particularly the Northern Black Hills.

Center officials also hope to offer astronomy camps.

“We see this project as attractive not only to tourists but to our community and residents and people who want to learn more about the history and the natural history of the area,” Kopco said.

Contact Steve Miller at 394-8417 or steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com