I heard from a friend (and verified it from those who know) that the Frisco Museum in Springfield, MO is closed. All the documents are stored elsewhere in Springfield (by another Frisco fan), and the caboose and Frisco passenger car (the Oklahoma City) is up for sale. Alan Schmitt, the founder, started the Frisco Museum in his garage in Ash Grove, MO, and later moved it to Springfield in the former CTC building, east of the main yard. Alan later left to pursue other interests and left the operations in the hands of others who apparently didn't seem too interested (or people-friendly, from what I've heard). While it's good the documents are safe, it's a shame to lose a great source of Frisco information.
Here's a more complete update, from the Frisco group in Yahoo!Groups: Messages Messages Help Reply | Forward | View Source | Unwrap Lines ----- Original Message ----- From: "Friscomike" <friscomike@f...> To: "FMIG Mailing" <frisco@n...> Sent: Sunday, January 05, 2003 12:54 PM Subject: [FRISCO] Frisco Museum UPDATE Greetings, The following message is from Louis Griesemer. He introduces himself in his note. We owe a great debt in gratitude for him leading the effort to save the contents of the now defunct Frisco Museum. I will work with Mr. Griesemer to make the museum contents available through the Frisco Resource Center. Best Regards, mike (yes, our Mike Corley, the Frisco forum mod) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Louis Griesemer" <LAGriesemer@S...> To: "Mike Corley (E-mail)" <conductor@f...> Sent: Friday, January 03, 2003 12:17 PM Subject: Frisco Museum Mike, First let me introduce myself. I'm Louis Griesemer from Springfield Missouri. I've been a model railroader since 1966 and currently model the Frisco in N Scale (basement layout). I once was a member of the FMIG, but I got in about the time that Doug quit publishing the newsletter so I have not been active. My brother Vince lives in Ft. Collins, CO and is more active with the FMIG. I sometimes operate on Ron Williams layout in Springfield. I also am friends with the following Frisco modelers in Springfield: Ron White, Ray Wells, John Sanders, Charlie Dischinger. I once was on the Frisco Museum board. I will not speak for the museum, but the following is factual and I make it available to you to pass on to the FMIG or other interested parties. Feel free to contact me via email at any time. I will update you from time to time on our progress if that is agreeable with you. Louis Griesemer FOR PUBLIC RELEASE: The Frisco Museum collection and in particular, the research materials have been purchased by the Frisco Building, LLC which owns the Frisco office building in Springfield Missouri. When the museum began negotiations with other parties to sell parts of the collection, Louis Griesemer, former Museum director and current Manager of the Frisco Building, LLC, offered to purchase the entire collection in order to keep the collection in Springfield. The collection has been moved from the old Dispatcher's building on Commercial Street to the Frisco office building at 3253 East Chestnut. The collection is currently being inventoried by a volunteer team made up of former members of the museum board of directors and other Frisco afficiandos from the Springfield area. The archives will be inventoried and cataloged so that they may be searched for retrieval of information. Although there will be no research service provided, the intention is to allow access to the collection for purposes of doing research on the Frisco. A primary goal will be to keep the collection intact and preserved. Details about access to the archives are still being worked out. Original materials will not be distributed so research projects will have to be conducted at the office building. Some materials may be made available to the public through the Greene County Library. In the future, as individuals or organizations do research projects, there is an opportunity for this information to be made available on the FMIG website. ================= Ship it on the Frisco http://www.frisco.org ================= Hopefully, we Frisco Folks will still have a source of reference for research. There are already questions being raised as to this fellow's intentions, but I feel they are good ones, and at least the records didn't wind up in a Dumpster somewhere.
