It’s the one-year anniversary of the purchase of the Wright House! The restoration effort has come a long way since that freezing day when the decision was made to raise $50,000 to buy the 136-year-old mansion.
MANY MANY THANKS to a generous community buying merchandise and making donations; to those attending our fundraising events; to those granting organizations making huge awards to the effort; to those corporations trusting the WHR with large contributions; to those folks contributing in-kind services; to the many volunteers staffing fundraising events, communicating with restoration experts, keeping track of the money raised and constructing grant requests; to the persons receiving, cataloguing and storing acquisitions; to the 3300 people on Facebook who have supported the project with encouragement and information – and on and on!
The house has a new roof, replaced window glass, enhanced security, a cleaned up interior and exterior, a security fence, a beginning to the sandstone restoration (to be completed by summer 2025), insurance and a property survey. Preliminary arrangements for plumbing, electrical, HVAC, fire suppression removal and wood floor refinishing have been made. The draft of a marketing plan has been developed in collaboration with Alma College. The restoration has been publicized online and in print.
A community meeting was held at Alma Public Library on February 10. After challenging the attendees to collaborate on the “restoration” of model houses with a variety of “stone” (crackers and candies) and “mortar” (frosting), Pat Benson reported on the restoration progress during 2024 and plans for 2025.
Fundraising plans for 2025 include another Wright Night for Trivia in April; in May a large raffle will begin and we’ll have vendor booths at the Ithaca Dust-Off Car Show and the Highland Festival; in June, July and August, there will be a vendor booth at the Alma Farm Market; a golf ball drop is tentatively planned for September and a bowling tournament in October or November; and continued vendor booths at craft shows and various city events will be planned for October through December.
Grant applications and letters of inquiry will be ongoing throughout the year and include the Rural Prosperity Grant, the Labor and Economic Opportunity for Community Museums Grant, the Wickes Foundation and the DAR Grant for Historic Preservation. Additional requests are likely to be made the Strosacker Foundation, the Consumers Energy Foundation and the Dow Foundation.
Corporate fundraising plans have identified more than one hundred companies and individuals and will be soliciting donations throughout the year, and an endowment fund to build sustainability for the future has been established at the Gratiot County Community Foundation.
The restoration attracted more than $700,000 in contributions in 2024 which is an enormous vote of confidence from the sources of financing. The total project cost is in the neighborhood of $2.5 million and the sandstone restoration is the costliest element of the restoration. So, if you have an extra million dollars lying around and looking for a job, the bank account is open for your business!
For more information, please connect with us on Facebook or the web at wrighthousemuseum.org.