LACS musuem to reopen

The Luxembourg American Cultural Society Center will reopen to the public on Saturday after a two-month renovation project with a new exhibit.

“The Business They Built: Local Luxembourg American Businesses” will be on display until June 1.

The center reopens to the public at 10 a.m. Saturday. It is open the first Saturday of the month from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The new exhibit, designed by LACS Curator Serena Stuettgen, celebrates the local businesses established by Luxembourgers when they immigrated here in the 1800s.

When settlers first arrived to this area, the primary industry was farming, but as the farms grew and produced, additional businesses became in demand, and were born.

“While it would be nearly impossible to go into detail on every local business with Luxembourg American heritage in the region, a few with extraordinary histories and significance were chosen for this exhibit,” Stuettgen said in a press release.

The four businesses featured are The Lake Church Cheese Factory started by Arthur “Art” Ansay in the 1925; the Allen-Edmonds Shoe Co. started by Elbert Allen, Sr. and his partner, Ralph Spiegel, as the Allen-Spiegel Shoe Co. in 1922; Krier Foods founded by J.B. Krier in 1909 as the Belgium Cannery; and the Waubeka Pearl Button Factory started in 1892 by J.P. Pallansch, Julius Klessig, G.A. Hewner and John Fintzen.

More than 100 other local Luxembourg American-founded businesses are part of the exhibit.

Renovations to the museum were designed to improve the functionality and appearance of the LACC, which was dedicated by the Grand Duke of Luxembourg in 2009.

Renovations include a brighter, airier J.B. Krier Welcome Center with increased space for events and children’s programming, a modernized and more welcoming gift shop, and a reconfigured Dooley-Wagner Research Center, designed to be more accessible and user-friendly with dedicated research space for genealogists.

The gift shop will have a more open and inviting look and feel, and the Acuity Rotating Exhibit area was upgraded. 

Interior design studio Maven Design of Port Washington has created the color palette, which integrates the existing warm, earthy neutral browns, balanced by worldly earthen grays, contrasted by strong black elements already found throughout in the building’s architecture. Mueller Construction of Belgium is managing the building renovations.

An invite-only event is scheduled for Friday night.

The museum’s regular hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and the first Saturday of the month. Other hours available by appointment.

The center’s website is www.lacs.lu.