150 commission funds Nevada Capitol museum remodel

The Nevada 150 Foundation, which raised money for the events celebrating the 150th anniversary of statehood, on Thursday handed Gov. Brian Sandoval a check for $700,000.

Bud Hicks, who chaired the foundation, said the money is to pay for an extensive remodel and update of the Battle Born Hall museum on the second floor of the state Capitol.

“It’s close to 30 years old,” said Museums and History Director Peter Barton.

He said the museum and its exhibits badly need to be updated.

“It has no central theme, no engagement,” he said.

Sandoval said the museum sees thousands of visitors from around the country and the world each year and needs to be brought up to date. But he asked Barton if the job would be completed before he leaves office at the end of next year.

Barton said a preliminary plan for the remodel will be presented in just a couple of weeks and the new museum will open before Sandoval leaves office.

Hicks said the group raised just under $3 million to pay for sesquicentennial events as Nevada celebrated turning 150 and at the end, “we had a little left over.” He said it was Sandoval who suggested giving a grant to update the Capitol museum, telling him “Battle Born Hall needs a facelift.”

Sandoval said updating the museum is one of the final projects he wanted to get finished before leaving office. The old assembly chambers have been remodeled into a modern meeting room and the Guinn Room on the second floor of the annex was turned into a cabinet meeting room.

Nevada 150 also helped with the Assembly Chambers remodel, paying for the huge one-cent coin cast in bronze with Abraham Lincoln’s image on it that hangs above the dias there.