Community Corner
Avon's New History Museum Receives Nice Fiscal Boost
The Avon Historical Society recently earned two separate grants that will help it open the new Avon History Museum later this year.
Avon Historical Society
AVON, CT — The new Avon History Museum expected to open up in the town next year recently received a nice fiscal boost.
The Avon Historical Society recently received a $5,000 grant from the Avon Greater Together Community Fund in collaboration with the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.
Find out what's happening in Avonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
It will go toward the installation of interpretive panels on the history of Avon in the new Avon History Museum, expected to open in 2025.
Also, this summer, the society earned a second $3,500 grant from the M&T Bank Charitable Foundation for curation of the text for the new panels.
Find out what's happening in Avonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
A soft opening of the new museum will be this November. The grand opening will be in the summer of 2025.
The first grant, received in 2023, will fund the curation and installation of the interpretive panels in the Native American portion of the museum being curated by the Institute of American Indian Studies, Washington, Conn.
Since the pandemic, the Town of Avon and the Avon Historical Society renovated the interior and exterior of the 201-year-old, one-room schoolhouse at 8 E. Main St. (Route 44).
It will open in the summer of 2025 as the Avon History Museum.
The building is located in the true and historic center of Avon.
For 115 years, from 1823-1938, students of West Avon were educated in this schoolhouse when it was located on what is now Country Club Road.
It was moved to its current site in 1983 by the Avon Historical Society to make room for the building of the Avon Free Public Library.
“Avon residents can be so proud of the careful stewardship of one of its finest historical resources. I commend the strong partnership that the Town of Avon and the Avon Historical Society will bring this museum to life. The items and the knowledge it preserves will honor all those who came before - including, quite incredibly, the Paleoindians here 12,500 years ago,” said Nora Howard, Avon’s town historian.
For more information on The Avon Historical Society, visit: www.avonhistoricalsociety.org
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