Gettysburg Foundation Closes In On $$ Goal, Plans Groundbreaking
By Deborah Fitts
June 2005

GETTYSBURG, Pa. - A $4.5 million challenge gift from a Philadelphia philanthropist will bring the campaign to build a new visitor center and museum at Gettysburg National Military Park to the $75 million mark by June 30.

That was the prediction of Robert Wilburn, president of the nonprofit Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum Foundation. The foundation is planning a groundbreaking for the new facility June 2, and Wilburn said the event was predicated on reaching the $75 million total. The overall cost of the project is $95 million. Wilburn expressed confidence that the $4.5 million to match the gift would be forthcoming.

"We have a lot in the pipeline," he said. After receiving the challenge, "We went back to people who were considering giving a gift," and they responded.

The challenge gift is from H.F. (Gerry) Lenfest, who has a charitable foundation of his own with a focus on education and history. Lenfest made the gift in early March with the requirement that it be met dollar-for-dollar by June 30.

"This is an incredibly thoughtful and generous gift," said Wilburn, "and, to the extent we needed one, even more incentive to meet our fundraising goal."

He noted that the size of Lenfest's gift was partly to restore some of the original construction plans for the facility. In the interests of cutting costs, some specifications had been reduced, Wilburn explained, and Lenfest was determined to ensure "a little bit nicer building." He calculated that the restored specs added about$3 million to construction costs.

Wilburn joined the museum foundation in the fall of 2000, and the nonprofit spent 18 months choosing consultants and designing the facility. Fundraising got under way in January 2002.

Wilburn said work at the site would start around the time of the groundbreaking. The first project will be restoration of a stream that was disturbed by construction of the long-ago Fantasyland amusement park. "We'll take the terrain back the way it was," Wilburn said.

The June 2 groundbreaking is scheduled for about 10:30 a.m., weather permitting, at the site of the new museum off Hunt Avenue. It will be open to the public. The groundbreaking will be preceded by an invitation-only celebration at the Gettysburg Hotel that Wilburn said would be attended by about 200 people.

According to a foundation press release, the visitor center will feature state-of-the-art exhibits that will immerse visitors in stories of the Civil War era and the battle, told in the words of the participants from four perspectives: commanders, common soldiers, civilians and correspondents. The bulk of the exhibits will focus on the Gettysburg battle, with the rest covering before and after the war.

For more information about the Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum Foundation's Campaign to Preserve Gettysburg, call (866) 889-1243 or go to www.gettysburgfoundation.org

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