Montrose - Daily Press

MONTROSE — Plans are under way to expand the Ute Indian Museum, doubling its square footage and augmenting its services.

"I guess what it is we're the center of when you're looking at Ute history or culture, and there's not — Colorado's one of the states like some states that just don't have a large indian population, in a way, because — given the history," CJ Brafford, museum director and member of the Lakota Sioux Tribe said. "And given much about the history in itself, we are the hub."

The expansion of more than $2 million would increase the museum's square footage from 5,000 to 10,000. The exhibit and classroom areas would be enlarged and a small auditorium may be added, Brafford said.

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"We'll start some community meetings so we (can) talk about the scope and to see what our community wants, and we'll have the community help select the architect," she said.

The museum received $146,000 from the state in January to select an architect and begin the planning phase. Thursday, the Colorado Commission on Higher Education approved its 2008 to 2009 capital priority list with financing of the museum's expansion ranked 10 of 32. Because money was given to the museum last year, the expansion is a continuation project, meaning its approval is probable, CCHE director of legislative affairs John Karakoulakis said.

"The legislature already put money into it. We see that as a good sign," he said.

The list must now be approved by the capital development committee, a legislative committee consisting of three members of the Colorado House of Representatives and three members of the Senate.

Brafford said the Colorado Historical Society will give a presentation to the capital development committee regarding the expansion Nov. 29. She said the community meetings in Montrose will begin in the next three months, with the expansion's design finalized within the next year.

The museum was built in 1956. Its last expansion in 1997 doubled its square footage from 2,500 to 5,000 and included the addition of the visitor information center.

"We are the main visitor information center — well there's the chamber but they're closed on the weekends and we're very much visible on this south side of town," Brafford said.  

Inspiration for the next expansion stems from the growth of Montrose and need for more space to meet additional community needs. Brafford said she's received several requests for an exhibit with such archaeological findings as arrowheads; she also would like to add a hands-on gallery for children.

She said Ed Nichols, the Colorado Historical Society's new president, began within the past 90 days.

"So there's a new visionary kind of direction that we're going," Brafford said.

The museum's attendance was more than 12,000 for 2006, though some years it’s been as high as 16,000. This doesn't take into account the folks who come to use the visitor center, picnic or meetings in the conference room, Brafford said, but rather what's been recorded at the cash register.

Adding genealogy center is among her plans for the museum over the next year. Brafford said she plans to obtain U.S. census records, superintendent records and others from the national archives to be available through a microfilm machine.

"This'll be great for researchers and, you know, primarily the focus too is for our Ute people who can't make it to Washington, D.C., especially if they can look up their own census records," she said.

The records would range in date from the 1870s to 1940s.

The museum's latest exhibit displays cradleboards — boards to which infants were strapped for transport — and color photos of September's Council Tree Pow Wow and Cultural Festival in Delta.

"It's a small museum but it's got a lot of information," Brafford said.

Brafford said she would like to have the rug exhibit possibly return summer 2008. This includes the display and sales of Navajo rugs handmade by women aged 8 to 90.

And the museum expects to have a peace pole dedicated Oct. 20 as part of the Weekend of Unity and Peace Oct. 17 to Oct. 21. A peace pole is a handcrafted monument displaying a message of peace in eight languages. The one in Montrose is expected to include a message in English, Spanish, Tibetan, French, Nigerian, Ute and more.

"The pole is to become a permanent fixture at the museum," Brafford said.

Other peace pole sites include the United Nations building in New York, the Magnetic North Pole in Canada and the Pentagon.

In commemoration of November as Native American Heritage month, Brafford said she plans to invite to Montrose the producer of a film recently featured at the Telluride Film Festival. The film, "Our land, our life," is the story of two Shoshone sisters who struggle against the U.S. government to the Supreme Court for land and human rights.

Another change to the museum could include a redesign of nearby roadways. The intersection of Chipeta Road and U.S. Highway 550 is known to be hazardous, and several neighbors and developers have been working on alternatives. One of these would be to install a road near what is currently a walking path behind the museum and move the outlet to the highway near The Hangin Tree store.

"The road (Chipeta) would be gone," Brafford said. "From the end of our property the road would just be taken out, the parking lot, the end of Chipeta would just be open park."

The museum's 8.65 acre property would have a chunk taken out near the south end in exchange for a couple more acres.

Contact Robert Allen via e-mail at roberta@montrosepress.com

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