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On Saturday May 3 the "Riverside History Center The Voyage Home" will have its grand opening.
Carolyn Hudson, vice-president, has been working all week to get the history center ready for its opening date.
"Our mission is to be an educational resource," Hudson said. "We want to preserve, entertain, and educate the people of Riverside about the history of Riverside."
There are two sides to the museum. One side will be dedicated to items coming from Riverside and the town history.
"We will have a case of stuff made in Riverside," Hudson said. "We will also have old news clippings from papers in the area about things that have happened in Riverside."
The first news clipping will be from the great storm of 1897. Research on newspaper clippings was done by Jan Musser.
"It was a cyclone and hail storm," Hudson said. "It destroyed St. Vincent's Church in town."
Residents can also bring in any old documents like death and birth certificates, paper clippings, or photographs that they might have about the town for the museum to copy and possibly display.
"If something happens to those items they're gone forever," Hudson said. "Here we can scan and copy those items and put them on our server. If something happens to them then that person can come in and ask for a copy of it."
A case dedicated to the Swift family and their brick and tile company will also be displayed.
"We'll have something about their house that is off of Highway 22," Hudson said. "Then there will be bricks on display from the brick and tile company and some history about the Swift family."
The other side will be dedicated to items from Star Trek, Trek Fest, and Invasion Iowa.
One case has autographed pictures from the original cast of Star Trek. They are on loan to the museum until after Trek Fest.
In another corner is Invasion Iowa, a reality show, which William Shatner did in 2004 in Riverside.
"We have the original wedding suit that Shatner wore in the show," Hudson said. "We will have a few other items on display but it's a surprise."
The famous "Billville" sign that the cast of the show signed, which used to hang at Murphy's Bar and Grill, now hangs in the museum.
"Murphy's let us have the sign for display," Hudson said. "Stumpf Construction Company brought it over last weekend and hung it for us."
The museum will have its shop of novelty items like key chains, Trek Fest shirts, and old postcards of the Riverside area available.
The City of Riverside, and the Riverside Area Community Club support the museum. Hours will be Saturdays from 10 to 4 p.m. The museum is run on a volunteer basis. If you would like to volunteer any time contact Carolyn Hudson at 319-648-2507.
