NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1981 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 1308

SENATE BILL 136

 

 

AN ACT TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS FOR THE PLANNING AND RESTORATION OF THE MURRAY'S MILL COMPLEX IN CATAWBA COUNTY.

 

Whereas, the Catawba County Historical Association was chartered as a nonprofit organization in the year 1949 by virtue of the laws of North Carolina, and began development of a serious museum program in 1973; and

Whereas, the purposes of the organization are to discover and preserve significant buildings, and to collect museum material, such as native relics, photographs, documents, and material objects illustrative of life, conditions, events and activities of the past and present in the Catawba Valley area of the State of North Carolina; to provide for the preservation of such material for the educational interpretation and exhibition of such artifacts and for their accessibility as far as may be feasible to all who wish to examine or study such items; and

Whereas, the concept and nature of the organization is that of an educational institution that embraces the Catawba Valley area, a region generally influenced by common historical antecedents; and

Whereas, the members of the Catawba County Historical Association have been able to raise the fifty-five thousand dollars ($55,000) necessary to purchase the six acre Murray's Mill complex, consisting of a millhouse with overshot wheel and working machinery (1913), a store (1890's), and a grainhouse (1880's), and that the subject property represents a strong visual recollection of the milling operations of the agrarian way of life in Catawba County at the turn of the century; and

Whereas, the Catawba County Historical Association, parent organization of the Catawba County Historical Museum, has gained broad constituency in terms of museum visitation and use of museum services; and

Whereas, the Catawba County Historical Association, recognizing Murray's Mill to be the last surviving complex of its type in the Catawba Valley and the mill buildings as important historically since they have been preserved intact in a setting undisturbed by the increasingly rapid industrialization of Catawba County, wish to preserve this complex as an irreplaceable educational resource open to all interested persons, particularly students, as a working example of early 20th century milling operations and a manifestation of the free enterprise system on which this country was founded; and

Whereas, the fifty-five thousand dollars ($55,000) necessary to purchase this property has been raised locally, and additional funds must be obtained before the first phase of architectural planning and restoration can begin; and

Whereas, the Murray's Mill complex, already listed in the National Register of Historic Places, will be utilized as an educational resource consisting of a milling museum which features all aspects of the milling business from farm field to store shelf and a cultural center of folk arts explicating Catawba Valley history, and that these facilities will be open on a regular basis to all interested parties; and

Whereas, the first phase of architectural planning and restoration are vital to the preservation of these historic structures of never-to-be-reproduced architectures; Now, therefore,

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Catawba County Historical Association the sum of thirty-five thousand dollars ($35,000) for fiscal year 1982-83 for the first phase of architectural planning and restoration of the Murray's Mill complex, provided a like amount is raised by the Association to match the grant-in-aid on a dollar-for-dollar basis. These funds shall not become part of the continuation budget. Any unexpended funds at the end of the 1982-83 fiscal year shall not revert to the General Fund.

Sec. 2. This act shall become effective July 1, 1982.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 23rd day of June, 1982.