Plans to build an interpretive center near the Susan B. Anthony Museum and House in Rochester are moving ahead, while museum officials say the push will be on to raise the funds needed to see that project become a reality.
That’s according to Deborah Hughes, President and CEO of the Museum, who says the new interpretive center will provide a much more in-depth resource about the life of the famed suffragist, and it will also offer visitors the kind of space that just isn’t available in the more modest house where Anthony lived on Madison Street for 40 years.
“Susan B. Anthony lived 86 years, and often people will say, what was her life like? It’s like, well, which decade? And this interpretive center lets us explore the social issues of her time, how she impacted them and how she was impacted by them. And how are they relevant to today?”
Hughes said the interpretive center would provide a boost for the local economy, since it could handle thousands more visitors a year than currently can go through the house.
And she said that new center would also enhance the neighborhood near the current museum.
“We want to have a thriving gateway, that’s a part of an urban village that just feels when you come, when you drive by, instead of seeing vacant city lots, you’re going to see people walking around and interacting,” said Hughes. “And we’ve had wonderful response from the people who will be the new neighbors on Jefferson Avenue.”
Hughes said the museum has acquired needed property in an area near Brown St. and Jefferson Ave.
Hughes said that construction of the interpretive center would not begin until after the Susan B. Anthony Museum can get somewhere in the area of $15 million to $20 million to build the project.
She said that would take a combination of private donations and government funding. Hughes said that once the money is raised, construction would take about two years to complete.
