Work on postal museum ongoing

By Mike Ford, The Delphos Herald
Published:  Saturday, May 9, 2009 (10 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Work continues on the new home of the Delphos Museum of Postal History in downtown Delphos. All of the plumbing, including broken pipes in the wall, heating and air conditioning systems, as well as fixtures, doors and other things, have been replaced.DELPHOS — In an effort to enhance local residents’ understanding of postal history, retired Delphos Postmaster Gary Levitt is in the process of raising funds for a local musuem. The former Eagles hall on Main Street is being renovated with a lot of room for progress.
“We’re still repairing and replacing items. The biggest thing we’re doing at the moment is trying to plan fundraisers because it’s taking a lot of money to get things done. We’ve replaced all of the plumbing, including broken pipes in the wall. We had to replace the heating and air conditioning systems, as well as fixtures, doors and other things. When you buy a building of that size for $21,000, there’s a reason,” Levitt said.
His long-term vision for the museum includes a Holocaust room on the second floor. He also plans to exhibit the Dr. Walter Wolery Stamp Collection, a replica of an old mail rail car and a chronological timeline of the historical development of mail delivery. Funding is the key issue the museum currently faces.
“Including the exhibits, capital improvements and things we’d like to purchase, the museum will be 11,112 square feet when it’s finished and will cost about $300,000. Right now, we’ve raised a little over $55,000 from donations and grants. It would have cost over a million dollars to build something of that size, so we’ll do it for much less. We’ve been fortunate to have community support and we also received a $26,000 in a matching grant from community development because some money was earmarked for projects that didn’t materialize and we were able to capitalize and get more than initially thought,” he said.
The museum still hopes to be open for Canal Days in September but must have a certificate of occupancy, which Levitt is waiting on. He said if fundraising through the next 60 days does not enable a September grand opening, it will be pushed back to mid or late fall. Fundraising has been made easier by the museum’s non-profit status by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)3 organization.
“All contributions to the museum are tax-deductable. We encourage people to think of us; we know these are trying times but they can help us in different ways — we’ve received product and service donations that have helped out a lot and very shortly, we will begin painting the entire interior. We’re hoping to find some volunteers in the community who might be willing to come in and help us do that,” he said.
Funds were recently raised with a corned beef dinner and friends of the museum will soon visit New York City with Levitt, who grew up in the “Big Apple.”

3 Reader Responses to “Work on postal museum ongoing”

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  1. #1 — Added 10 months, 1 week ago

    Good Luck Gary - I know this has been a mission of yours. It’s great to see it come together. I hope to visit in the fall for the opening.

    Posted on May 11, 2009 at 10:23 am by Jim Hammar

  2. #2 — Added 10 months, 1 week ago

    where are donations sent?

    Posted on May 11, 2009 at 12:23 pm by Judy Alvarez Rendon

  3. #3 — Added 10 months, 1 week ago

    I was unable to load many of the pictures on the museum’s Web site (http://www.postalhistorymuseum.org). Looks like it needs to be updates which help the fundraising effort.

    Posted on May 11, 2009 at 12:37 pm by Don Schilling