Groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday for new SPI historical museum

President of the South Padre Island Historical Foundation Dennis Franke presents architectural rendering of the future home of SPI’s Historical Museum during a press conference Thursday, July 7, 2022, in South Padre Island. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald)

The South Padre Island Chamber of Commerce will host a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday on what will be a new historical museum.

Dennis Franke, who is president and one of the founders of the South Padre Island Historical Foundation, explained that the ceremony is less of an actual breaking of ground and more of an acknowledgment of the partial demolition and reconstruction of the former Visitors Center.

“South Padre Island has no museums at all,” Franke said. “This museum will document and preserve and display the history of the island from prehistoric times through present. It’s going to be a very interesting, educational museum in that you will evolve.”

“Our history is fairly brief in different sections, in all the sections, but you’ll be able to walk through the museum and have a feeling of where this island came from, and how it evolved to what it is, and what happened over those centuries of time to the island,” he continued. “So I think it’s gonna be a very educational, interesting museum that people are going to find a lot of facts and information that they had no idea were even there.”

The two story building, which is located at 610 Padre Blvd., will be reconstructed to resemble a five-story light station.

“The building will be almost five stories tall when it’s finished with the light tower on the top,” Franke said. “It’s going to be a very prominent building, and very nicely done, very well detailed. We will have exhibits that we endeavor to, that we’re in the process of putting together, that I think will be extremely interesting and educational.”

Construction on the 5,000-square-foot facility is estimated to take eight to nine months to complete. He said that the project has a budget of $2,875,000, but that will likely increase as the displays are added to the museum.

He said that the exhibits will tell the story of the island going back to prehistoric times to the present and everything in between.

“The goal is that they’re going to find that South Padre Island really does have a history,” Franke said. “Most people think it’s nothing but a sandbar, but it does have a very interesting and enlightening history when you know all the things that have transpired across the sandbar. The takeaway would be that (visitors) would have a much better feeling about this island and that it has roots, and has deep roots.”

The groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday.

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