Downstate Museum Honoring Sen. Paul Simon To Close
TROY, Ill. (CBS) -- A Southern Illinois museum that honors the late Illinois U.S. Senator Paul Simon is closing at the end of the month.
As WBBM Newsradio's David Roe reports, museum president Regina Dunbar Hendrickson says the museum in Troy, Ill., has decided to give up because of tight municipal budgets, difficulty in fundraising and a lack of volunteers.
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Village of Troy donations to the museum dropped from a high of $8,000 to about $2,000.
Hendrickson says the museum doesn't "have enough money to continue to have a roof over our heads."
The museum holds materials from and about Paul Simon, a journalist, veteran Senator and onetime presidential candidate who died in 2003.
He is still seen to be one of Illinois' premier statesmen, and his daughter Sheila Simon, now serves as Illinois lieutenant governor.
The museum at opened in 2005, and has operated in three locations over its seven years.
Even in its early days, the museum was only open for parts of two days a week, and later cut back to just for one day a week. It will be open from 10 a.m. to noon the next two Saturdays, and will then close for good, according to the Belleville News-Democrat.
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