Published: September 20, 2008 11:40 pm            

Children’s Museum nearing completion

If asked to describe a museum, most people would not think of mentioning a 20-foot climbing wall, a “water room” and a do-it-yourself sound studio.

But then again, the staff at Johnstown Area Heritage Association is not building a typical museum.

After years of planning, a new, 7,000-square-foot Children’s Museum finally is taking shape at the association’s Heritage Discovery Center off Broad Street.

And administrators seem just as excited as the kids who are expected to swarm into the facility when it opens later this year.

“It’s going to be a real resource for families, because you can come back again and again,” association spokeswoman Shelley Johansson said.

While many museums consist of static exhibits in a quiet, studious setting, the Discovery Center’s third floor will be overtaken by colorful displays with plenty of moving parts.

“It’s all very interactive,” Johansson said. “You do things.”

The idea is to teach children – ideally, ages 4 to 10 – all about Johnstown’s history, culture, geography and geology.

A central feature will be the hulking “climbing wall,” which features a working Inclined Plane and a slide that deposits kids in a padded coal cart.

Exhibits will be spread throughout several rooms. Some examples:

nA water room that includes features on wetlands, dam building and fishing.

“There will be all kinds of water in here,” Johansson said.

“Hence the plastic walls and tile floors.”

nA steel mill and, nearby, a store.

“You work in a steel mill, you get a paycheck, then you go to the store and spend your paycheck,” said Richard Burkert, heritage association executive director.

nA costume “fashion show” and a circular studio that will allow kids to mix sounds from nature, work and a home.

“This sound mixing can be a lot of fun,” Burkert said with a laugh. “They can make their own ode to Johnstown.”

nA station where children can plan and build their own town.

nAn outdoor area that includes native and aquatic plants.

All aspects of the museum are formulated specifically with Johnstown in mind: Exhibits were designed with the help of a New York firm and custom-fabricated by a Virginia company.

That also means the project was not cheap. But it is part of an overall, multimillion-dollar investment at the Discovery Center – formerly a raw industrial space that hosted Germania Brewing Co.

Additions include new offices, rooftop terraces, a cafe and a three-story Iron and Steel exhibit that eventually will include a steel-making movie shown on a 30-foot-wide screen.

First-floor classrooms will include “laptop computers and audio-visual equipment so we can do formal educational programs,” Burkert said.

On the floor above the Children’s Museum, the association has installed a “social club” that features a bar from Johnstown’s West End Polish Citizens’ Club.

The facility is available for rent for private functions.

And the building’s fifth floor will accommodate temporary museum exhibits.

“What we’re trying to do is position the building as a multipurpose community center,” Burkert said.

        

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