The National Four-String Banjo Hall of Fame Museum is relocating from its home in Guthrie to a century old building in Bricktown, according to a report from the Associated Press. The $1.3 million building, located on Sheridan along the main entrance to Bricktown, will undergo a $2 million renovation this spring.
The museum's executive director, Johnny Baier, told the AP that museum officials looked into building the museum from the ground up on a vacant lot, but chose Bricktown as the new location because the museum is "dependent on casual traffic," which Oklahoma City's entertainment district should readily supply.
HISTORY
The museum was formed by industrialist and banjo enthusiast Jack Canine in 1998, originally to display his large banjo collection. Its inventory grew last year by nearly triple its size when 200 jazz-age banjos from the Twenties and Thirties were gifted to the museum by a private German collector.
The new two-story museum will have a 57-seat theater, a gift shop, a cultural workshop and a bistro. For more information on the museum, currently located at 116 E. Oklahoma in Guthrie, call 260-1323 or visit their site.. "Joe Wertz
