By Traci Chapman
Published on August 14, 2008

Mustang Historical Society’s good fortune has turned into a mixed blessing, as the group struggles to find space for its growing collection, and a plea for expansion has hit a brick wall.

Society president Dolly Priest said the group’s museum is “bursting at the seams,” and the situation in the old police station on West state Highway 152 has gone beyond crowded to critical. Without funds to pay for a permanent home for the museum, the society has relied on the generosity of city officials, Priest said, and members have crammed artifacts into every “nook and cranny we can find.”

The city allows the historical society to use the majority of the building to house its museum. Mustang Clothes Closet occupies space on the facility’s second floor, and Mustang Kiwanis’ food pantry is located in the back of the building, Priest said.

Priest said members thought they might have found at least a temporary solution to their problems when they realized a large room, which served as a workout center for Mustang police officers and firefighters was empty “99 percent” of the time.

“We thought if they realized how desperately we needed the area, they might relocate their equipment, but they haven’t responded to us,” she said.

The room — the garage area that served as the bay for emergency vehicles when the police department was housed in the building — is subject to flooding, when rain seeps under the old garage doors, Priest said. Although the society would have to store items off the floor, she said the space would be “invaluable.”

“We just picked up a second trailer load of antiques from Kenneth and Mary Ann Krivanek in Fort Worth, and we have no place to store them,” Priest said. “Our storage unit is full, and we can’t afford to rent a second one.”

Priest suggested the exercise equipment be relocated to the police station because “there is ample room in the new station,” but city officials said there is no room at either the police station or the fire station.

“We would love to be able to give it (the room) to the historical society, but we just don’t have any place to store what we have,” Lt. Dennis Craig said. “We have a Smith machine, an exercise bicycle, an incline bench, a squat rack and other equipment, including a set of plate weights and dumbbells.”

City employees’ benefits include a membership to the Mustang Community Center, Priest said, which gives the firefighters and police officers who do use the equipment located at the old station an alternative. Craig said while officers’ membership to the center’s facilities is a benefit, it is not free, and it is not a true solution.

“We are taxed for that benefit, so it isn’t strictly free,” he said. “Also, all of us are shift workers. Usually, when that facility gets utilized, it’s going to be after the community center closes or before they open.”

Firefighters work 24-hour shifts, 24 hours on, 24 off with four days off; patrol officers work one of three shifts — from 6:45 a.m. to 3 p.m., 2:45 p.m. to 11 p.m. or 10:45 p.m. to 7 a.m. The Community Center’s hours range from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursday and 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays, to “limited hours” of 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays.

Police Capt. Willard James said the room is used “pretty heavily” by police officers and firefighters who are able to use it any time of the day or night.
“I think it’s probably a case of the historical society members not seeing how often the room is used,” he said. “It would be a hardship on these employees if this wasn’t available to them.”