The Military Memorial Museum of Upper Cumberland

Restoration Update

May 2025

 

We just wanted to give you an update on what is happening at the museum these days.  The restoration process is moving forward.  The first floor has been leveled and the new sub flooring installed.  The total rewiring of the building is also about complete.  Holt Construction has now also completed leveling the second floor and installed the upstairs sub floor.  All of the new downstairs museum quality windows are in place and soon they will be installing the cable for the security system and cameras. In addition the wall between the two upstairs rooms on the south side of the building has been removed.  This will allow for a much larger space for our future display area.  If all goes according to plan, the restoration process should be completed around Memorial Day.  Once the work is completed it will still take our staff another month or more to move everything back into the museum and set up the displays.

 

We want to thank Mayor Foster and the County Commission for the additional funding they provide us for several unexpected issues that came up.  These included having to rewire the entire building and repairing several major structural issues.  

 

In addition we would like to thank Crossville Mayor R.J. Crawford, City Manager Valerie Hale and the City Council for their timely assistance to our restoration process.  They funded the cost of moving the two upstairs furnaces in the center of the back rooms closer to the walls in order to make more space for storage and displays.  They also made an in kind grant which allows their city work crews come in after the restoration process is complete and paint the entire downstairs and do some other minor touch up work.

 

While digging out dirt underneath the first floor to reach some original wooden beams that needed to be stabilized, workers unearthed several interesting artifacts.  These were most likely items prior to the 1905 fire that devastated much of the building. These included an old seal press probably used to emboss documents with the county seal as well as pieces of pottery ware with partial labels on them.  These items will be put on display in the entry hall near the sign in desk once we reopen.

 

Additionally the concrete pad and handicap ramp up to the Stone Hut across from the museum have been completed.  We are still working on getting things ready to open the stone hut as the new Military Museum Library.  This will be in conjunction with the Art Circle Library.   

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If you would like to make a tax deductible donation to our museum restoration fund you can click on the DONATE BUTTON at the top of this page. Your support is greatly appreciated.

 

 Mark Pfaffenroth – MMMUC President