Welcome to the Granada Historical site. We are announcing a significant change. I’ve always enjoyed sharing the past with the public whenever possible. It has been my passion and my wife’s once “she came on board”, as the saying goes. The time has come for a significant change on how we hope to do this from now on. The museum institution as most are familiar is very difficult to support with the advent of the Internet. Small museums such as us here in Granada no longer receive the support or traffic needed to survive. Thus during this interim we will be switching to an online museum and eventually a research facility. The Granada Historical Museum will no longer have a physical presence the public is so familiar with.

 

2013 was pivotal year and the hard questions that had been asked were answered. The time had come to end the large displays, the gathering place and our physical presence.

 

This has been a long process in my life. Starting in 1976 when I first recorded facts and then in 1978 when I turned in a paper and asked the teacher not to mark the paper with a grade because I didn’t want it “defaced”. 1983 rolled around and it was Granada’s first Family Fest. That was the year I first publicly displayed items for the Family Fest goers which many folks generously donated their items for this purpose. Public support was fantastic and very positive. 1987 the old Corner Bar was available for purchase, which was just in time for the Centennial of Granada. In 1988 we had a “permanent home”. The support was incredible.

 

From 1989 to 2000 we kept a steady pace. Then sadly the Methodist Church was going to close. They donated their church for the use as a museum and this was a much-needed boost. We had visitors from as far away as Denmark.

 

As time went on the Internet was becoming common and the public in general was changing on how they researched history. While this has been a boon for the Granada Historical Museum it has also been the death knell for our physical presence.

 

As of this writing we are well over $75,000 in the red. Yes you read that correct and that figure is just for the basics (Taxes, Heat, Cooling, Maintenance, Fixtures, Web fees, Office Supplies/Filing Cabinets, etc.). In order to survive, we have been forced to tighten our belts and become just an online museum at this point. The museum never intended to make a “profit” but the above figure was not ever expected.

 

The silver lining is that this will let us get more organized and hopefully make more resources available online. And maybe even reopen a museum someday.

 

Click here for information on an Historic Images book on Martin County.