BRIDGEPORT – Over the past 15 years the Barnum Museum has been tested as its executive director and staff try to finally complete a multi-million-dollar monumental transformation worthy of the national recognition it has already received. Now the former Barnum Institute of Science and History can add the story of its own resilience to its legacy as a place that houses the miraculous and bizarre.
Kathleen Maher, who has been executive director of the museum since 2005, has been a witness to the Barnum’s own bizarre recent history that started with a EF1 tornado in 2010. She shared stories with the Fairfield County Business Journal that reflect the resilience Phineas Tyler (P.T.) Barnum cited in one of his books called “The Art of Money Getting: Golden Rules for Making Money.”
“Ambition, energy, industry, perseverance, are indispensable requisites for success in business. Fortune always favors the brave, and never helps a man who does not help himself,” the Connecticut-born circus showman (Barnum & Bailey), businessman, politician and museum curator wrote.
It’s almost as if Maher was summoning Barnum himself in the longtime renovation and rebuild of the historic Barnum Institute as she has had to face a litany of natural disasters.
“On 2:15 on June 24, 2010 my entire life changed,” Maher said in describing the tornado that touched down in downtown Bridgeport. “I was around the block on McLevy Green setting up (for an event).
“And with that, Chris, the director, tried to open the door. It wouldn’t open. I learned later that was the ‘blunder effect.’ All the trees in McLevy Green had fallen. I rushed back to the museum. All the glass was out.”
She described the extent of the damage from the fateful day.
“When the tornado hit in 2010, there were about 20,000 artifacts that were in harm’s way,” she said. “Glass blew out on the first floor. All of what you could see became garbage. That got sucked out into the HVAC system.”
Then in August 2011, Hurricane Irene hit followed by Superstorm Sandy in the fall of 2012.
“The water came up into the building,” Maher said in describing both storms. “We were already two years into disaster management, so all the artifacts that were already cleaned had to be cleaned again. It was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’”
Through its numerous disasters, the museum got a lot of help from its friends – namely other Connecticut museums such as the Mark Twain House and the nearby Fairfield Museum. They had staff members who helped micro-vacuum the many damaged artifacts.
The eagle had landed
But Mother Nature wasn’t done with the Barnum Museum and Maher just yet. In 2019, its golden proud eagle statue that adorns the top of the turret-covered dome went missing after a sudden gust of wind.
“The Eagle withstood everything – the tornado, hurricane and Sandy,” Maher said. “Then in March 2019 there was some anomalous wind gust and it tipped the eagle. So, we called the fire department. They said be there first thing in the morning on Monday and we’ll figure it out. I get here at 6:30 in the morning and it’s gone. No eagle.
“We did an all-points bulletin to find the eagle. Turns out, we’re all over the news and a friend of ours tells me I was at Ralph and Rich’s (restaurant) across the street and I saw these big guys – I think they were cops – loading up the eagle and it was on the ground.”
She wound up calling the police department and they brought it back right away in the police car. It went to a restoration in Berlin, Connecticut, and now it looks beautiful.”
Historic recognition
Right before the tornado hit in 2010, the Barnum Museum was elevated to Nationally Significant status by the Department of the Interior and National Park Services. It had been previously put on the National Register in the 1970s.
“The final step is National Historic Landmark,” Maher explained. “When the tornado hit, the National Park Services called to say you don’t have the structural integrity to be a National Historic Landmark. They said they had to take us off that list.”
So, after the Barnum Museum team did enough stabilization work in the building, the National Parks called saying they had just talked to the Connecticut State Preservation Office and it was a “go” for the landmark status.
However, the museum had to wait until two years after President Joe Biden took office in 2023 for the status to become official as then-President Donald Trump disbanded the entire program during his term from 2017-2021.
“The Barnum museum finally became a National Historic Landmark after 19 years,” Maher said.
The 132-year-old edifice opened as the Barnum Institute of Science and History in 1893 as the final masterpiece of Connecticut’s own showman, businessman, politician, and museum curator.
Originally envisioned by Barnum – a native of Bethel, Fairfield, and most importantly Bridgeport – the Institute was designed to be a grand showcase of the state’s cultural achievements and technological marvels. From General Tom Thumb’s carriage to a skeleton of a centaur of TYMFI to a massive reproduction of the Ringling Bros. circus to many of Barnum’s books, it boasts more than 60,000 artifacts related to Barnum, Bridgeport, and 19th century America.
Renovation work
Kronenberger & Sons Restoration of Middletown is in charge of the building’s restoration. They have been working with other contractors to replace the roof, restore the dome, the damaged East Wall and replace the damaged interior walls and elevator. Working alongside them is the award-winning design firm BRC Imagination Arts, which is creating new and vibrant exhibits that offer learning through exploration, imagination and innovation, stimulating the power of creativity and sparking intellectual curiosity.
According to the museum website, BRC was selected to work with the Barnum Museum based on their years of experience as extraordinary storytellers and technical wizards (designing globally acclaimed sites including the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library and the Kennedy Space Center.) Barnum’s stories will be presented by seamlessly combining rigorous storytelling with traditional museum design, artifact display, and media, theater, technology and immersive environments.
With an anticipated opening year attendance of up to 244,000 visitors, the new Barnum Museum will be a primary contributor to the regional economy, stimulating economic growth and jobs, according to a campaign flyer prepared for the museum.
So far, the museum has raised more than $14 million for the first two phases of the restoration: historic preservation, East Wall and dome stabilization and exterior rehabilitation. The next two phases will address interior design and interior rehabilitation. The museum’s capital campaign goal is $26 million. Additionally, the museum has received a $2 million from the Community Investment Fund (CIF) 2030 – Round Six grant. That will support critical infrastructure, safety, accessibility, and historic preservation improvements for the 1893 landmark. The project includes upgrades to fire suppression systems, climate control, plumbing, lighting, building repairs, and a new ADA-compliant elevator.
“We’re getting the band back together again,” Maher said as she finished a recent tour with the Fairfield County Business Journal as she proclaimed that work on the next phase will start soon. “Our architects, our historic preservation architects, the designers, mechanical engineers we are going to have a meeting next week (mid-July) to say, OK, inside is next.
“So that’s going to be the group saying we got to get started even though we have to match the Community Investment grant from the state. And we are working on that right now. And we have support from the city for capital.”
To support the Barnum Museum’s restoration, you can donate by visiting the website.
