New Pedestrian Access Being Built at Hingham Historical Society

It’s one of the toughest buildings to enter in Hingham.  You have to climb a steep hill just to enter it.

Now the Hingham Historical Society is fixing their problem, by building a new front stairway that will run from Main Street to the Old Derby Academy building’s front door,  HHS Director Suzanne Buchanan confirmed.

Riley Construction is presently digging up the front entrance.  Parking is unavailable in front of the building during the construction. 

The new entrance way is just one of the renovations the Historical Society is looking to make before the Society’s 100th birthday in 2014. Now the HHS needs voters' help at Town Meeting to make the improvements .

The anticipated cost of their proposed additions cost $2.9 million and if residents vote Yes on Article W at April’s Town Meeting, the HHS can appropriate the sum of $1.1 million from the Community Preservation General Reserve to help pay for the new improvements.

The HHS has already raised over $650,000.

In addition to the new pedestrian access, the proposed new improvements include adding an elevator, visible storage space, a gallery and a new flight of stairs leading to the Hingham Cemetery.

According to project manager Mark Cullings, the new ground level will feature an enlarged visitors’ center, new larger bathrooms facilities more storage space. The second level will feature new northerly and southerly entrances to a reception hall, with new gallery display space, visible storage and the existing ballroom, which will serve as a display area with movable exhibit cases and meeting room.

“This is the most ambitious project ever undertaken by the Historical Society, and when completed will be mean a major new educational, cultural and economic asset for Hingham,”  Cullings said in an email.