Muldoon Museum/Courthouse to Be Renovated
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Constructed in 1890, the Muldoon courthouse is one of six precinct courthouses that were built in Fayette County. Over the years, it has been used as a mattress factory, canning kitchen, site for quilting bees, voting location, community meeting place and a museum.
Fayette County Commissioners accepted and awarded a bid for renovations to the Muldoon Museum. The museum is housed in the old Muldoon Justice of the Peace Courthouse.
Double K Custom Homes of Flatonia was the only bidder for the project. The company submitted a bid of $63,975. The work involves leveling the building then replacing siding, windows and doors. Pct. 3 Commissioner Harvey Berckenhoff said he spoke with two other construction companies who initially expressed interest in the project. “Neither one was interested, I believe, because of all the artifacts inside the museum,” Berckenhoff said. “All of those things are going to have to be removed from the walls. They were concerned and said they’d rather not bid on that.” Commissioners voted unanimously to accept and award the bid to Double K. Berckenhoff said the County decided to renovate the building after discovering some major determination during recent maintenance.
“We were going to pressure wash the building and repaint it, but the wood on the outside was so thin that it would have blown right through,” he said.
The County will pay for the project using federal grant funds from the American Rescue Plan (ARP), the $1.9 trillion dollar stimulus program aimed at speeding the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, which was signed into law in 2021. A portion of ARP funds are earmarked for tourism-related activities.
Berckenhoff said the museum project qualifies for ARP funding under the tourism allotment.