A newly-formed foundation is working to preserve the heritage of Sugar Land with hopes of educating current residents as well as generations through a new local history museum.
It's a busy year for the Sugar Land Heritage Foundation, which is diving headlong into work to ensure Sugar Land's history is protected and shared with the community.
Led by newly-appointed Executive Director/Curator Eleanor Barton, the new foundation's main purpose is to collect, preserve and communicate the history of the Sugar Land community.
"One of our primary goals is to encourage the community to embrace the unique history of Sugar Land and to become involved with the preservation of their local heritage," Barton said.
The closing of the Imperial Sugar Refinery in 2003 was the catalyst for the new foundation, Barton said, adding that the refinery housed a variety of historical artifacts and documents that city officials as well as other groups wanted preserved.
The city, the Imperial Sugar Company, and Cherokee Investments partnered together to collect the priceless contents that traced the refinery's evolution from the mid-1800s to modern times. The hope was to create a local history museum in which to keep the historical information, Barton said.
The foundation was incorporated in 2008 and really kicked off its work this year.
"Now that the Sugar Land Heritage Foundation has an established board of directors and an executive director/curator on staff, we are ready to assume responsibility for this collection and to move forward with plans for a local history museum," Barton said.
Work will be ongoing to sort through the data collected at the refinery. Barton said Johnson Development provided the foundation with space on the refinery site for an office and a temporary museum.
Renovation plans are underway to create an office, a volunteer workroom, a collections storage area, a classroom for educational programs, and a museum exhibit gallery, she said.
"Our permanent museum will also be located at the Imperial site, but construction of it won't begin for several more years," Barton said.
Future plans for the group also include creating a Web site with information about the new foundation, the collection of artifacts and links for visitors to read about the history of Sugar Land.
Barton said the city of Sugar Land has provided the seed funding for the formation of the Sugar Land Heritage Foundation along with generous support from Cherokee Investments, Johnson Development, Imperial Sugar, the Fort Bend Museum Association, and community representatives.
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So what's going on with the development of the Imperial site and all of that land around it? I remember seeing plans for renovation of the Imperial building, and a old-fashioned type mixed-use neighborhood with new homes that had front porches, etc. This was a few years ago I saw these plans. I guess the economy has stalled this project?
I'll find out...
I know the last that was reported was that a new partner had joined the effort and they were moving forward with renovations. I'll find out the current status and provide an update. Thanks for the comment!
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