City sets sights on Knowlton site for children's museum downtown

The building long-known as the Knowlton Ice Museum in downtown Port Huron could soon become a destination just for kids.

During a meeting Monday night, City Council members will hear a presentation from the city’s parks and recreation department over a proposal to turn the Knowlton site, 317 Grand River Ave., into a children’s museum before later considering three agenda items related to its startup.

Special Projects Coordinator Cynthia Broomfield said officials are responding to a need for indoor play for kids, citing the success of the city’s “Discovery City” exhibit that ended earlier this year at the Port Huron Museum’s Carnegie Center.

Since then, officials have said previously that they planned to find a new home for that setup.

“We just ended up looking at other spaces, and the Community Foundation came forward as an opportunity there with the moving out the (exhibit, “Top Secret: License to Spy,” from the) museum,” Broomfield said. “So, we really began these discussions, I would say, maybe just even a couple months ago of what this could possibly look like.”

The Community Foundation of St. Clair County acquired the 8,000-square-foot Knowlton museum three years ago.

In a lease agreement that’s before council members, the organization would receive $16,000 a year, plus profit sharing of $1 per museum ticket sold, during a three-year term starting Dec. 1.

Additionally, officials are asking City Council to authorize Nancy Winzer, parks and rec director and deputy city manager, to spearhead seeking up to $750,000 in funding to get a children’s museum at the Knowlton building off the ground.

Winzer said they’ve already consulted with local parents — and “mom roundtables” — to get gather input on the effort.

However, she said it was too early to nail down a timeline for opening the museum, as they’re still on the hunt for ideas and donations.

“Since it’s going to be run through the rec department, our team has gone out to multiple children’s museum sites to see what (there is),” Winzer said. “Our biggest goal will be to find the things that have the largest play value. One of the people on our staff is a past teacher, so we’re looking at what are some of the educational (pieces) we can hit, and we’ll continue to look at that, as well.”

In a statement, Community Foundation Vice President Jackie Hanton said they’re excited to partner with the city at Knowlton, “because of the positive impact the exhibit can have for Wrigley Center and other downtown businesses.”

City officials said capitalizing on and reusing Discovery City, while also bringing in new features, at a children’s museum was also about the foot traffic from visitors.

“This isn’t something that we are just doing,” City Manager James Freed said, adding he thought Discovery City served as a good pilot effort for a fixed children’s destination. “When you see almost 15,000 visitors in a short season, not even a whole year, it really shows what’s possible. There is no children’s experience like this in the region. So, not only is this about providing wintertime recreation and programming for our kids, but it’s also an economic development project.

“People will come … from all over the area. We have people from Macomb, Genesee, from up in the Thumb, thousands of people from out of county come here just for Discovery City, and when these folks come here, they will also go to lunch, maybe shop downtown.”

City Council meets at 7 p.m. Monday in the meeting chambers of the Municipal Office Center, 100 McMorran Blvd. Agenda materials can be found online at https://porthuroncitymi.iqm2.com/Citizens/calendar.aspx.

What could this looking like? How can people help?

In its request to seek funds, the city would also be committing $200,000 in American Rescue Plan dollars to the children’s museum.

The $750,000 itself being sought, Broomfield said, would include retrofitting the existing Knowlton building.

“False walls that we’ll need to get up to kind of section out different exhibit areas. We’re looking at painting, maybe some lighting improvements in there. So, that’s the bulk of some of the hard costs,” she said. “But then, also looking at close to $500,000 of exhibits, actual play pieces for children. We’re looking at a variety of different options, taking Discovery City, expanding upon that, and then, looking at new features like the water feature.”

The third item up for consideration for council members on Monday is a $29,980 water feature table for the exhibit.

Broomfield said they’ll also look for soft play features, expecting to accommodate different groups from ages 2 to 10.

As they continue to look for donations and ideas, Winzer encouraged those interested to contact the rec department at (810) 984-9760.

“Money’s great, and obviously, we can do great things with that. But also, we’ve had some people reach out,” she said. “Maybe you work in a doctor’s office or dentist’s office, you have things (to contribute) because some of the museums we looked at (have) little cities with playable pieces. We’re still looking for people that want to be part of this great initiative.”

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: City sets sights on Knowlton site for children's museum downtown