POCATELLO — An eastern Idaho museum will continue to store historic artifacts thanks to the restoration of its building. The Bannock County Historical Museum received repairs and underwent a remodel due to the aging quality of the building. Arlen Walker, president of the Bannock County Historical Society, is thankful that none of the artifacts received water damage from the previously leaky roof.
“(The contractor) really did a beautiful job on the restoration,” Walker said. Before the restoration, water was leaking down the walls of the museum. In order to fix this, the roof had to be remodeled and repaired during the summer of 2022.
Originally, the roof was made out of metal sheets and had a large skylight over the museum’s gallery. Because of that skylight and the angle of the roof, rain and snow wasn’t draining off properly, and ice was splitting the metal apart in the panel joints. “I don’t think any corners were deliberately cut, but there were some poor decisions made, like skylights,” Walker said of the building’s original construction.
As more leaks formed, water dripped down the walls in sections of the museum. Luckily, none of the artifacts were damaged before the renovation began. In the remodel, the historical society had the skylights removed and replaced with indirect lighting.
Despite the work being done, none of the artifacts had to be moved out of the museum during the process. “It would have taken semis and a crew of hundreds to move and .