The Wakefield Museum is holding a groundbreaking ceremony for their new addition on Friday August 10th.

It was Annetta Hayes dream to build a museum to hold the history of Wakefield. In the 60’s, Annetta got the Wakefield Library club to help make her dream a reality, and by 1973 they had raised enough money to build the first wing. By 1990 they had built the additions of the Berner wing and the Rau wing. A new group have taken over where the founders left off.

Over the last 20 years, the museum has received so many historical items they ran out of room to display them all. Over the past 7 years, the museum board and the community have been raising money for a new addition. By 2014, they weren’t quite halfway to their goal, when along came Laura Cooper.

Cooper is a great niece to Dale Newell, alumni of Wakefield High School, and knowing how hard they had worked to get to that point, the Cooper-Newell Foundation matched them dollar for dollar. By February, they had reached their goal, and on August 7th the City Council approved the new addition. Everyone is welcome to celebrate the groundbreaking ceremony this Friday at 11:00 a.m. in Wakefield.