Kiwanis members given tour of Thronateesake Archives Center

ALBANY — Having already accomplished a great deal, Thronateeska Heritage Center still has its eye on goals for the future.

The center’s executive director, Tommy Gregors, and his staff on Monday took members of the Kiwanis Club of Dougherty County on guided tours of the center, located on the only section of brick street remaining in Albany at the end of Roosevelt Avenue downtown.

The club took a field trip from its usual meeting site at Hilton Garden Inn, with lunch in Thronateeska’s Chautauqua Room. The program for the day was the tour of the heritage center, with particular interest in Thronateeska’s latest addition, the Southwest Georgia Archives facility.

The archives center is a 10,000-square-foot, climate-controlled processing and storage building connected to the historic Fryer-Merritt House (moved to Thronateeska from its former location at 411 Pine Ave. in 1994), which serves as a reception site and offices for the archives. It also includes state-of-the-art technology that enables Thronateeska to convert to digital form old records and historic documents that are part of the history of Albany and the area.

Thronateeska is working under contract with the city of Albany, Gregors said, to scan and digitize records and codes for the city. Similar tasks are being undertaken for Dougherty County and Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital.

Some of the city and county records date back to the early 1840s and 1850s, Gregors said, “So we have some very valuable pieces of our history.”

The scanning ability has also created a much-needed revenue stream for Thronateeska to help defray the cost of operating the facility. While the center has had some generous donors, Gregors said, “Now we have a way to sell our mission, our record-keeping, our history. Government is required to maintain public records, and we’re able to to provide that service for them.”

In addition to the archives, Thronateeska Heritage Center also includes museums of science and history, a rail-car display, and a 40-foot full-dome high-definition planetarium system, the first of its kind in the world. On exhibit in the museum is “Ellis Island: The Lost Mural”, a 90-foot recreation of a lost mural that surrounded the dining hall of New York’s Ellis Island. The exhibit also includes paintings of dozens of celebrities and dignitaries who immigrated to America, including stars Bob Hope, Desi Arnaz, and Greta Garbo among others.

Thronateeska and the Flint RiverQuarium are now under the same operating umbrella, with Gregors overseeing both. A paved trail joins the two attractions, and Gregors wants to develop it “into something more than just a concrete pathway. We want to dress it up, to landscape it,” perhaps add a butterfly pollinator garden. The hope is to develop it through government and community partnerships, “and show folks what we can have in our own backyard.”

Another future possibility is to obtain adjoining railroad right-of-way, which would allow further expansion of Thronateeska’s facilities and enable the center to move the railcars to what Gregors believes would be a more suitable location. He said the heritage center has pretty much filled all of its currently available space.

For more information about Thronateeska Heritage Center, call (229) 432-6955.