Museum breaks ground for new pavilion Friday

Rendering of the Charles T. Klein Pavillion

It's the next chapter in a story that is nearly 50 years old. On Friday (March 23), the Desert Caballeros Western Museum will break ground for its new Charles T. Klein Pavilion and an innovative program called “Cultural Crossroads,” designed to link the past to the future.

The new 4,000 square foot pavilion, to be named for former Museum Board Chairman and Trustee Charles T. Klein, is being funded by the Charles A. Frueauff Foundation of Little Rock, Ark. The handsome, covered building, designed to provide new community space as well as to house historical exhibits, is also being funded by Wickenburg's Wellik Foundation.

One of the most dramatic of these historical exhibits will be the glass enclosure created for a famous piece of Wickenburg history - the Wickenburg Stagecoach, also known as the Flying E Stage. Used for many years by the Flying E Ranch to take “dudes” to and from the railway station, the stage was donated to the Museum by Viola Wellik and restored by Carson Thomas at her request.

Designed by the Phoenix architectural firm of Orcutt/Winslow Partnership, the pavilion will be built in a style that is in keeping with the Museum. At the same time, contemporary touches will be introduced including an attractive core-tin roof. The project is being overseen by the Museum's Building Committee headed by John Marzolf.

As part of the project, the Museum Park will also get a facelift with landscaping that coordinates it with the Town's new streetscape project. The Museum's famous Joe Beeler statue “Thanks for the Rain” will remain the focal point of the park.

“With the foundation support we have received, we are thrilled to be able to finally be able to expand the Museum outside of its walls while at the same time providing the Town with a welcoming, new ‘living room' available for others throughout the community to use,” says the Museum's Executive Director Royce Kardinal.

The ground-breaking ceremony for the new pavilion will take place adjacent to the Museum Park this Friday (March 23) at 9 a.m. following the Museum's Trustees' Reunion Breakfast scheduled earlier that morning. On hand for the ceremony will be Anna Maria Chavez, deputy chief of staff for Governor Janet Napolitano; Robert C. Booker, executive director of the Arizona Commission on the Arts; Mayor Ron Badowski; and Charles T. Klein who is returning from Oklahoma for the ceremony.

“We invite everyone in the community to join us for this historic ceremony,” says Jeri Robson, chairman of the Museum's Board of Trustees. “As the first of many steps toward the Museum's 50th year, the new pavilion both demonstrates and renews the institution's commitment to those who live in Wickenburg.”

The Desert Caballeros Western Museum is known as Arizona's Western Museum serving nearly 50,000 visitors a year by preserving and exhibiting the art and history of the Southwest and desert frontier. The Museum is known for its innovative programming and has an extraordinary collection including Western art and Native American arts, along with the Hays' “Spirit of the Cowboy Collection,” one of the most complete collections of Western artifacts on display in the country. The Museum's entire lower level is devoted to a re-creation of life in Late Territorial Wickenburg and to a fascinating, permanent exhibit called “Out on the Ranch,” which has been especially created with children in mind. The Museum is located at 21 N. Frontier Street in Wickenburg. For information, call 684-2272, or visit www.westernmuseum.org.

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