State commission to consider handing over ownership of Jacksonville museum

Oct. 07--MONTGOMERY -- Faced with a big budget problem, Alabama's state government is planning to give away a little building in Jacksonville.

Officials of the Alabama Historical Commission will meet Tuesday to discuss the possibility of handing over the Dr. Francis Medical Museum -- the 19th-century doctor's office on Gayle Avenue -- to the city of Jacksonville.

"Our concern was not being able to maintain it," said Stephen McNair, director of historical sites for the commission, which is charged with safeguarding Alabama's historic sites. "The commission didn't have the funding to do that."

The commission is now owner of the museum, a two-room Greek Revival building where, from 1837 until his death in 1888, Dr. James Carrington Francis saw his patients. Volunteers from the local Retired Senior Volunteer Program have run the building as a museum, where people can see historic medical instruments and learn about Jacksonville's history.

"The threshold of the building is worn down from the feet of all the patients going in and out," said Gail DaParma, a Jacksonville resident who has worked to restore the building. "There were people who died in this building, and people who were born in this building."

The building has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1970, and was deeded to the Historical Commission the same year. So far, that ownership hasn't cost the state much: the Historical Commission pays the insurance, volunteers run the site and the city mows the grass.

Even that may be too much in the current budget climate. According to state budget documents, the Historical Commission has seen its state funding drop from $3 million in 2013 to $2.3 million this year.

An increase in the near future doesn't seem likely. Alabama's$1.8 billion General Fund budget is expected to come up short by more than $150 million, as the state runs out of money it took from a state trust fund to patch post-recession budget holes.

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Dr. Francis Museum in Jacksonville

McNair said the agency has offset the cost by raising admission at some of its sites, laying off workers and dipping into a trust fund.

The agency is also considering handing off some historical sites to local governments. In addition to the Francis Museum, the Fort Morgan pier and the Moore Building in Montgomery are on the list of potential sites.

"There's still a question about whether we'd be able to do that," McNair said. The agency's Historic Sites Committee will take up that question Tuesday at a meeting in Selma; a final decision on the matter wouldn't happen until December, when the commission's full board of directors meets.

"It's a great medical museum," McNair said of the Francis building. "It's a great representative of Greek Revival architecture in Alabama."

McNair said that with reduced staff, the commission wasn't sure it would be able to maintain the building in proper condition.

Some local residents had that concern, too. For the past two years, DaParma and about 80 occasional volunteers have worked to restore the old building, which DaParma says was falling into disrepair.

"It was in sad, sad shape," DaParma said. "The roof was leaking, and things go downhill quickly after a leak. We rewired it and put in HVAC (air conditioning)."

At the outset, DaParma expected the project to cost $13,000, but volunteers and donors repaired the building for only $11,000.

"It's a true story of grassroots success," she said.

Jacksonville Mayor Johnny Smith said the city is ready to take the building if the commission can give it away.

"I did kind of like the old arrangement," he said. The city already pays the museum's power bill, he said, but now it will pay for the building's insurance as well.

Smith praised the volunteers who worked to restore the building. He said he understood the Historical Commission's reasons for giving the site to the city for safekeeping.

"I think it's going to be better that way," he said.

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