The Kane Area Children’s Museum is another step closer to becoming a reality, as the museum’s board members held an open house Thursday night to showcase their newly finished business plan.
Joe Lanich, the treasurer of the Kane Area Children’s Museum nonprofit, gave group tours of the historic Chestnut Street School.
”You'll also see on some of the plans, we have a treehouse, a two-story treehouse," Lanich said as he pointed to printed plans for the museum.
The building is a former elementary school. Some local businesses have since moved in, but Lanich said other parts of the school have sat unused for about 15 years.
Now, the lobby, cafeteria, gymnasium, some classrooms, and the library are on the way to becoming an interactive experience for children, as well as a place of nostalgia for adults who went to school there.
Lanich said there are other children’s museums across Pennsylvania, including in Pittsburgh, Erie, Altoona and State College.
“These are all wonderful places, but they are a very far journey from where we're at here in Kane," Lanich said.
Lanich said their nonprofit has been working on plans for the museum since 2022. But, they only recently finalized the business plan.
According to a feasibility study, renovations could cost around $4 million. Lanich said they’re now fundraising to cover that cost.
Brandy Schimp, Kane's mayor and another board member of the museum's nonprofit, said the first phase of construction will begin after they raise $1.5 million.
