The Town of Wallkill is set to develop its first museum and art center on a 20-acre property donated by local artist Harold Card more than two years ago.
Both parties told The Epoch Times that they were ready to move the project forward following a recent contract amendment that put the town in control of major decisions on the property.
“It is all in the works,” Mr. Card told The Epoch Times in his historic house on Van Burenville Road on Feb. 24. “I feel good about the town’s approach in doing this project with me as a joint effort.
“It will be a great project, as it always has been.”
Originally built in the late 1700s, the house was home to one of the first licensed inns in town, a stagecoach stop between Middletown and Bloomingburg, and the primary residences for two Horton brothers, both of whom engaged in dairy businesses and served as town supervisors.
James Horton, the younger brother, went on to operate a major ice cream manufacturer serving more than half of the population in New York City during the early 1900s.
“The whole history of the Town of Wallkill is here in this house,” said Mr. Card, who bought the property from the Horton family in 1961 and had since further enriched it with his creative touches.
He created hundreds of pieces of artwork at the property, assembled an outdoor display featuring antique farm machinery, erected a citizen memorial honoring famed locals, maintained a historic cemetery, and built a meditative stone labyrinth for relaxation and reflection.
For decades, Mr. Card and his wife, Kathleen Card, who is now deceased, wanted to turn their property into a local historical and cultural hub, and in 2021, they donated it to the Town of Wallkill for that very purpose.
“I’ve always believed that culture would be a wonderful thing for our town,” he said. “I wanted it to be a place where people are inspired to discover the artists within themselves.”
Per the arrangement, Mr. Card can live in the house for the rest of his life, with most utility and groundskeeping expenses paid for by the town.
Except for private living areas, the house is planned to be turned into a town museum; a new structure is also planned to house an art gallery displaying Mr. Card’s works.
The immediate next step for Mr. Card and the town is forming an art committee with five to seven members that will advise the town on acquisitions, programming, and operational matters.
Mr. Card would be a permanent committee member and play an active role in selecting members, according to the recently amended contract between him and the town.
Nominated members, along with other major project decisions, are subject to town board approval.
Councilman Mark Coyne, the town liaison to the yet-to-be-formed art committee, told The Epoch Times that he had also been in contact with an engineer who would evaluate the current conditions of the historic house and create a to-do list with cost estimates.
The town had set aside $250,000 in a dedicated capital reserve fund last year for the Card property, which Mr. Coyne said he hopes to use to attract further governmental grants for the project.
“I am going to meet with Harold every Friday,” Mr. Coyne said. “As time goes on, obviously, we won’t have to meet every week, but for now, we need a lot of energy to get this train moving.”
