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History of OPOMAC

In 1992 the United States Postal Service announced that the former U.S, Post Office building in Graham would be sold since the Post Office had moved to its new location on 380 By-Pass. A group of interested citizens asked the City Council and Mayor Ed Hinson to purchase the building for use as a museum and art center. The City Council agreed and by the end of the year the City of Graham had purchased the building and agreed to allow the group to use the building for a museum. Organizers raised seed funds, conducted a survey to determine the museum's mission and took a citizen's poll. The result was that the public wanted a general museum of history and fine arts for the education and enrichment of the citizens of Young County.

By early 1996, the new museum had roughly 200 members, and had raised funds to bring in a museum consultant to prepare a Master Plan for the project. Conover Hunt, well-known museum planner and consultant from East Texas and Dallas, agreed to help with the project. Mark Stewart, AID Architect, from Houston was hired and conceptual design was developed to renovate the 1938 building for use in a new purpose. A massive fund raising campaign was implemented to obtain money necessary to pay for the work. The original estimate was approximately $850,000 but was reduced to $400,000 with appropriate adjustments.

Many changes took place. The service windows in the foyer were removed and the spaces were used as display cases for the permanent history exhibits. A door was cut from the foyer to the former work-room to provide entry to the now beautiful and spacious Main Gallery. The loading dock was enclosed and new doors and a ramp for the handicapped were added. A rear entrance into the new workroom and space for archival storage were also included in the plan. The area of the foyer which housed the small, rental mail boxes, is now a beautiful gift shop.

The project was developed at the time that thousands of communities across our nation were recognizing the economic potential of cultural attractions in regard to developing tourism of an area. The building has since been designated as a National Historic Place under guidelines administered by the Texas Historical Commission.