GREENFIELD — Susie Billings and Joyce Benbow sat beneath a white tent in the gardens behind James Whitcomb Riley’s boyhood home.
The members of the Riley Old Home Society sipped punch, listened to Riley’s poetry and imagined the future, when the grounds of the boyhood home and museum of the Hoosier poet will contain an upgraded event space capable of providing a lunch area for larger tour groups.
The Riley Old Home Society has raised $184,000 out of its $225,000 goal. The money will be used to demolish a small outbuilding known as ‘Lisbuth Ann’s Kitchen and replace it with a larger, more accessible and efficient facility. The project has received funding from Greenfield city officials as well as the Hancock County Tourism Commission, and has sought grants and donations to fill the gaps, officials said.
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The proposed facility, on which leaders hope to begin construction early next year, aims to solve several issues created by the age, inefficiency and condition of the current building, which was once a garage and has no historical significance.
The ‘Lizbuth Ann’s Kitchen building, about 500 square feet, currently houses one restroom and a space with six tables to hold about 25 people. The structure is not insulated and has to be closed down in the wintertime because if the water stays on, the pipes will freeze, said museum director Stacey Poe.
Its replacement is planned to look like a carriage house built in the same 1800s-era style as the museum, Poe said. It will expand the space and connect with the museum, solving accessibility issues with the back steps of the museum.
City leaders have discussed expanding buildings on the Riley Home campus to create an event space since the late 1980s, said Hancock County tourism director Brigette Cook Jones.
The city has pledged its support to the project, helping to draw up design work meeting modern accessibility requirements and helping to engineer the electric and sewer work for the new facility.
Those who wish to donate toward the project may do so by downloading a form from greenfieldin.org/parks/1523-lizabuth-anns-kitchen-fund-raiser.
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The Riley Old Home Society, created in 1939 to curate and preserve the James Whitcomb Riley Boyhood Home, hopes to raise $225,000 to create a larger space for tours and for local events.
Pledge and donation forms are available at greenfieldin.org/parks/1523-lizabuth-anns-kitchen-fund-raiser.
The Riley Old Home Society can be contacted at 317-462-8539.
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