By ROWENA PLETT

Staff writer

Reorganized displays, repaired and wallpapered walls, new lighting, and climate control greet visitors of Peabody Historical Museum. It was closed almost two years for renovation and reopened May 25.

The public got a chance to visit the reopened building twice recently, during Peabody’s final Cruise on Oct. 27 and 9:30 a.m. Saturday where a tour was offered.

The museum’s volunteers plan to open it on the first and third Saturdays of the month and then close it down for winter sometime in November.

The building that houses the museum was the first free library in Kansas, built in 1874.

F.H. Peabody, the man for whom the town was named, donated money for it. The library outgrew itself and was replaced by a magnificent stone Carnegie Library in 1914.

The wooden structure was moved several times and, after being restored in 1927, it served several uses.

The building was vacant for a while, but Peabody Historical Society rescued it after the organization was formed in 1960. Just in time for the Kansas Centennial, they moved the building east of the library and converted it into a museum.

The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

The museum is part of a complex in historic downtown Peabody that includes Peabody Printing Museum, Morgan House, and Carnegie Library.