The Henry Hauser Museum in Sierra Vista.
It’s a new year, and while many of us are making resolutions to improve ourselves and our quality of life, the Henry Hauser Museum in Sierra Vista is also hoping to make room for its own glow-up with a grant from the Sierra Vista Historical Society.
The 22-year-old museum is a historical hub that houses snapshots of the mountain view city’s history from its humble beginnings in the mid-1950s till today.
Museum Curator Elizabeth Wrozek said that the $100,000 grant from the Sierra Vista Historical Society will help with the maintenance of the building as well as make way for a new live digital interactive map and other multimedia displays. The historical society awarded the grant to the museum in December.
“Throughout the pandemic, numbers, of course, dropped,” said Wrozek. “And we try to offer more digital content on Facebook and things like that. And that was a really good way to attract new audiences and something we want to incorporate here.”
Wrozek said that the funds will be used to update flooring and lighting as well as for interactive digital displays and a photo archive housed in a kiosk.
In gesturing to the large aerial map of Sierra Vista with pull-out boxes of info about various businesses and landmarks, Wrozek said she hopes to install a digital display of the map where folks can simply tab on an area to learn more.
“Where instead of the things coming off like this, you touch something, and then, the image pops up and tells you about the history,” she said. “So you can explore —- you know what I mean — photographs and what things were that way.”
President of the Sierra Vista Historical Society and Sierra Vista Council Member Marta Messmer said that the historical society wanted to reaffirm its commitment to supporting the museum through this grant. She said the funds were initially set aside for a new museum.
“And since I believe that a new museum is a little ways off and this current museum could use, you know, the updating,” Messmer said. “And knowing that all of this stuff could be moved at any time to the new museum, I thought it was important for us to do that now.”
President of the Sierra Vista Historical Society Marta Messmer talks about an image of her grandfather Henry Jones, who was a Buffalo Soldier stationed in Fort Huachuca and also was the unofficial night watchman of the city’s West End before the city’s police department was established in 1957.
The museum holds some historical treasure troves. Messmer’s grandfather Henry Jones, who was a Buffalo Soldier stationed in Fort Huachuca, is featured in the museum’s Historic West End Exhibit because he was the unofficial night watchman of the city’s West End before the city’s police department was established in 1957.
Henry Hauser Museum curator Elizabeth Wrozek talks about the display of the first McDonald’s drive through window in the world, which she said was installed in 1974 in Sierra Vista to accommodate the soldiers on Fort Huachuca who at the time were not allowed to go into businesses while in uniform.
Wrozek said that the museum also holds the first McDonald’s drive-through window in the world, which she said was installed in 1974 in Sierra Vista to accommodate the soldiers on Fort Huachuca who at the time were not allowed to go into businesses while in uniform.
Wrozek said it’s all about preserving a shared history, as well as making the area’s history more accessible to a wider audience.
“People digest information in so many different ways,” Wrozek said. “And so, we wanted to be able to offer that. That way, we can serve a more diverse population, not only with the way they digest information — whether they like to have tangible items or digital items, to hear things audibly or read them visually. But then to also be able to offer a much bigger variety of content to folks.”
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