The 50-year old linoleum in the Library is in such poor condition that it is worn through to the floor boards in several spots.\u00a0 \u201cIt is a tripping hazard,\u201d said Rick Aldridge, \u201cwe really can\u2019t avoid replacing it any longer.\u201d\u00a0 Rick is the just-retired president of the local Carpenters Union, and is one of the Society\u2019s newest board members.<\/p>\n

There is also an old kitchen in the rear of the building that volunteers are converting into a storage room.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWe have items stored at a number of off-site locations, including the Waters Moving & Storage Warehouse,\u201d said Museum Director Andrea Blachman. \u00a0\u201cBut there are many items that we need to access repeatedly throughout the year, so the former kitchen will provide us with some additional onsite storage which is badly needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ancient galvanized plumbing under the building also needs to be replaced.\u00a0 It is so full of rust, that water barely flows through the pipes.\u00a0 \u201cNew copper piping is the solution,\u201d observed Volunteer Bob Yates, \u201cand will also prevent future problems from developing — like the old piping springing leaks in the crawl space under the building.\u201d<\/p>\n

Volunteers enter and exit the building through the back door at the Museum, but it is delaminating due to age and exposure to the weather. \u00a0\u201cThe door is in such poor condition,\u201d said Bob Braun, \u201cit is in danger of falling apart.\u201d\u00a0 Bob is another volunteer who helps maintain the Museum when he is not serving as the president of the Kiwanis Club in Martinez.<\/p>\n

The Society will also be repairing the roof at the rear of the Museum.\u00a0 That is a portion of the historic building which was added in the years after the original structure was built in the 1890.\u00a0 It has a flat roof, notorious for developing leaks if not meticulously maintained.<\/p>\n

Volunteers at the Society operate the Museum so that the citizens of Martinez will enjoy the benefits of having such an institution in our town.\u00a0 Neither the City nor the County provide funding.\u00a0 The Historical Society raises all the funds needed to operate the Museum.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cUnpaid volunteers who love the Museum do most of the work there,\u201d said Historical Society president John Curtis, \u201cso we stretch every dollar a long way.\u00a0 But cash is still required to buy materials and to hire licensed professionals to do things that are beyond the skills of the volunteers.\u00a0 So donations from the community are needed — and are gratefully accepted.\u201d<\/p>\n

$\"Archive$ <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>

$\"Congressman$ <\/a> <\/div>

$\"Debbie$ <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>

$\"Harriett$ <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>

$\"Mother-and-children-fascinated-by-the-thumb-cuffs-in-the-Martinez-Police-exhibit-at-Martinez-Museum\"$ <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The volunteers at the Martinez Historical Society are taking advantage of the Covid Pandemic slowdown to make repairs to the Martinez Museum.\u00a0 In 2016, the … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/martinezgazette.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Martinez-Museum-HD.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Ntvs-3RQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinezgazette.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14870"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinezgazette.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinezgazette.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinezgazette.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinezgazette.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14870"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/martinezgazette.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14881,"href":"https:\/\/martinezgazette.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14870\/revisions\/14881"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinezgazette.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinezgazette.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinezgazette.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinezgazette.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}