Havre History Center receives Historic Preservation Award

The Havre History Center was presented the Havre/Hill County Preservation Award Thursday by the Havre/Hill County Historic Preservation Commission at its location in the former Griggs Printing Building.

Havre/Hill County Historic Preservation Officer Becki Miller said the commission gives out an award like this every May to an organization in town doing work to preserve historic locations in the area.

The award was accepted by H. Earl and Margaret Turner Clack Memorial Museum Foundation President Elaine Morse, who said it was great to finally see the H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum in a permanent location, after years and years of repeated moves.

"Now, we're home," Morse said.

Miller presented the award, and said her organization is excited to see what the museum grows into.

She thanked Morse and her colleagues for their work preserving not just Hill County's history, but the building's history as well.

Miller said the Downtown Master Plan, an ongoing project to revitalize downtown Havre, is focusing a lot on the adaptive reuse of buildings like this, and the arrival of the museum helps those efforts.

The plan, driven primarily by the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce, Bear Paw Development Corp., the city of Havre and Downtown Havre Matters!, funded in part by the Hill County Community Foundation, Montana Main Street Program and the Big Sky Trust Fund Program, and worked on by High Plains Architects, is still being developed with community input.

The museum's previous location in the Holiday Village Mall has been completely vacated, after months of work by museum and foundation board members as well as private citizen volunteers and local sports teams.

Some work still needs to be done before the new location opens, but Morse said the grand opening is coming soon.