BLUEFIELD, W.Va. – The Raleigh County Veterans Museum is in the process of moving into their new space on Eisenhower Drive. Not only will the address change, so will the name. The museum will be formally called the Raleigh County Veterans and First Responders Museum.
The new space will allow plenty of room for veteran related artifacts and historical items relating to first responders. The president for the museum says they’re nearly done on the veterans portion of the area.
“We were space limited at our old place. We couldn’t grow anymore. We had no land. The building itself was just packed full. We couldn’t display everything like we should,” said Ron Hedrick.
Hedrick says they’ll likely begin moving artifacts from their old location on Harper Road this month. Once work is done on the veterans section they’ll begin renovating a second part of the building which will house historical items relating to law enforcement.
The building was formerly occupied by state troopers and the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Office.
“It kind of fits that we turn it into a museum for veterans and then of course the first responders part is a bonus. We’re excited about it,” said Hedrick.
Hedrick says the museum recently received a $58,000 grant from the Beckley Area Foundation. He expect that money to go a long way towards renovating the law enforcement museum space.
“It’s going to cover all the general costs of the construction and stuff like that. We don’t buy artifacts so the artifacts for that part will be dependent on how many things we can get from the local police officers,” said Hedrick.
The new space will also have a third phase of construction which will create a space for fire and EMS artifacts as well. Hedrick is inviting people from the community to attend the museum’s open house on Veterans Day from 3 pm to 6 pm to tour the new space.
Hedrick says the organization is also moving their annual Healing Fields event that is traditionally held on Veterans Day. The event will now be observed on Memorial Day beginning next year.
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