Troy Museum receives updates and improvements

The Troy Museum recently received updates and the City of Troy and the museum board are currently in the process of continuing to work to improve the museum.

“The museum received a lot of private donations this spring,” Sue Taylor, the museum chairperson, said. “The caboose has a brand new paint job. The caboose also got new decals. It looks really nice. Last week the city workers got together and made new steps to enter into the front of the caboose. We are going to get it all cleaned out. It will be nice for visitors when they come and stop so they can browse through the caboose.”

Taylor said that the museum itself will also be receiving a new paint job in the near future.

“We put new boards up on the side of the museum and are in the process of getting the museum a new paint job,” she said.

The Mossey family of Troy recently donated yard flamingos that are positioned in front of the museum.

“The Mossey family donated the famous flamingos,” Sue Taylor, the museum chairperson, said. “Those flamingos have been really popular. People have been stopping and taking pictures of that. It’s fun to see people stop in Troy and do that.”

The famous caboose behind the museum recently received a new paint job and had new decals put on it.

The holiday season is a few months away, but Taylor said that the museum is planning on getting new Christmas lights.

“We are updating all our Christmas Lights,” she said. “We always decorate the trees during the holidays. So we will be purchasing some new LED lights. That will make a big improvement for the museum during the holiday season.”

The Timber Beast Disc Golf Course is behind the museum. The disc golf course attracts a lot of people and Taylor said there will be a new attraction behind the museum soon.

“We are currently working on putting a trail behind the museum,” she said. “We have posts set up. Jim Hammonds, one of our board members went through and marked where the trail is going to go. The city guys were once again helping with that. A lot of our help comes from the city guys. The power crew guys and the park and recreation crew guys are always lending a helping hand. It’s nice to have the support of the community.”

In May some students from the elementary school helped plant new flowers in front of the museum on Earth Day.

“Back in May with Earthy Day, Amber Young, who works at the elementary school donated some money,” she said. “We got some perennials from the local green house. We tore apart all our rocks that were below the big welcome sign outside the museum. We put new chips and dirt in there and planted all the perennials. Amber and her kids with the after school program came down and planted those on Earth Day.”

Taylor said that the museum board is currently working hard to make the museum a visitor center and rest stop.

“We are working with our state representatives to try to get the museum to be open more,” she said. “It’s a tourist attraction, but we also want to try and make it a rest for people that are traveling through. It could be a visitor center, too. We are working with our local state officials to make that happen. But, it needs to be open more. We have limited money to keep it open. Depending on the day we only have five visitors and other days we have more. It honestly just depends on the day and time of year. During the Fourth of July celebration we had the highest number of visitors that we’ve had since I’ve been on the board.”

Taylor said that the mayor of Troy, Darren Coldwell, is working on making improvements to the museum.

“I know Darren is working on doing some minor improvements as well,” she said. “He’s looking to get some showers and overnight stations for people that are biking through town.”

Coldwell said that the Troy museum area is a perfect stopping spot for bicyclists making their way through town.

“The museum is an ideal place to stop for bicyclists,” he said. “There is the deli and grocery store right there. There is a café right across the street. I think getting some showers installed there will be a nice addition.”