A new home for history

Tony Nivens asked Chelsea Mayor Tony Picklesimer for a meeting toward the start of Picklesimer’s administration. His concern was the city’s history — preserving it and helping residents connect to it. 

On his checklist for the meeting, Nivens, the founder of the Chelsea Historical Society, planned to ask for a chance to revive interaction with the city’s history museum, located in Chelsea City Hall.

“Before I got around to that spot in my agenda, he said, ‘Tony, what would your historical society think about manning the museum?’” said Nivens, the founder of the Chelsea Historical Society. The plan looked a little different than what Nivens initially imagined. 

Picklesimer walked him through the plans, involving moving the museum out of City Hall and into the Crane House upon the relocation of the city’s public library. Nivens said he was excited for the opportunity, and about a year after establishing the historical society, they are preparing to re-open the Chelsea Historical Museum.

The Chelsea library officially moved out of the space in mid-March, at which time Nivens and other members of the historical society worked to clean the space, touch up the paint, and prepare to move in new display cases with memorabilia. 

At their April 22 meeting, the historical society gathered additional historical items from residents, who were able to share the stories of the items’ significance. Planning the museum, Nivens said, started to get daunting but around that time he found Chelsea Middle School teacher Blake Lovett. Lovett, a social studies teacher and Chelsea High School graduate, is passionate about history and museums, Nivens said. He will serve as curator for the Chelsea Historical Museum.

Before they had moved in, Nivens and Lovett worked out a general flow for the location — moving from the Native Americans who lived in the land that is now Chelsea, to its first white settlers, to the time that the railroad was built through the town. 

Lovett has brought that vision to life, Nivens said.

The museum will use its three main rooms to share a narrative, Lovett said. The largest room will hold some of the oldest items they have, including a wagon procured by former Chelsea City Council member Juanita Champion. That room will include information on the Native Americans who lived in Chelsea as well as some of the city’s oldest families. 

Next, there will be more modern history of Chelsea, from the mid- to late-20th century. In the third room, they plan to have a semi-permanent collection telling the story of Chelsea’s incorporation.

“It’s a very personal task for me because I always enjoyed growing up in Chelsea. … So coming back, I get to use some of those things I learned to give back to the community that did such a good job of putting up with me,” said Lovett, who received his bachelor’s in history and a masters in social studies education from University of Montevallo before moving back to Chelsea.

As they continue to grow the museum, Nivens said he wants people to realize the museum is not just “old Chelsea.”

“We’re really hoping this will be a place where the new people coming to Chelsea will be able to get a feel for the folks who grew up in Chelsea,” Nivens said, adding that the museum could be a “middle ground” between the city’s two populations. “There’s so few of us that have spent our whole lives in Chelsea,” said Lovett, who noted that when he was 5 years old, in 1996, there were fewer than 1,000 residents. “Today, our small city is made up more or less of these new families who moved in and are part of this community, but don’t know how this community was established.”

The museum, Lovett said, will hopefully serve as a place where families and other residents can come and learn more about the city.

The museum plans to hold its grand opening celebration in conjunction with Chelsea’s 110th birthday and the state’s 200th anniversary celebration. Chelsea’s bicentennial committee has been endorsed to hold an official bicentennial celebration, Nivens said.

Janice Clark, chair for the June 10 event, said the day will include presentations from members of Chelsea’s oldest families, readings from three Chelsea authors, a food truck on site and the opportunity to walk through the new museum.

“We hope this is just going to be a memorable event for Chelsea,” she said.