FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) – Years of low attendance and needed repairs have city officials considering whether to close a museum founded by a taxidermist nearly 50 years ago.
The Jack Diehm Museum of Natural History features animals posed in their native habitat decorated with plant life and painted backgrounds. Sharks, swordfish and deer heads hang from the walls of the museum near the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo.
Zoo director Jim Anderson told the city parks board that the average annual attendance for the museum over the past decade is 716 people. The Journal Gazette reported in a story published Monday that, by comparison, the zoo attracts more than a half million visitors a year.
“To me it’s almost disrespectful to leave that museum open,” he said.
Berlen Diehm, a taxidermist, founded the museum along with his wife in 1963 in memory of their son, Jack, who died in an auto crash, to educate the public about wildlife and its preservation.
In 1975, the original building was destroyed by arson. Berlen Diehm worked to have the museum rebuilt and it reopened in 1981.
Diehm fought a proposal made to 2000 for tearing down the museum for additional zoo parking and possibly using the museum exhibits to line a tunnel linking the zoo to the additional parking area. He died in 2002.
The zoo hires a part-time worker to take tickets at the museum, which is open only on weekends during the zoo season. Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for children. Anderson said the museum has lost money for years on its $7,000 in annual operating expenses.
The building needs a new roof and other exterior repairs estimated to cost more than $175,000, and Anderson said didn’t believe the zoological society would be willing to pay for those improvements.
City Councilman John Shoaff said low attendance at the museum has been a problem for many years and that the city shouldn’t be sacrificing other park projects to finance a museum that isn’t popular with residents.
Anderson and city parks staff are scheduled to discuss ideas for what to do with the museum and present them to the parks board in the next few months.
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Information from: The Journal Gazette, http://www.journalgazette.net
AP-CS-11-29-10 1138EST
