Submitted artwork Interact Children’s Museum Inc. released artwork depicting what its new permanent facility will look like once it’s complete. The non-profit organization is seeking final funding to purchase the property that is located in the Colonial Estates housing development.

ELKINS — Since 2019, the Interact Children’s Museum has been operating as a mobile museum with hopes of someday finding a permanent home in Elkins. 

This week, the non-profit institution announced plans for the future, which include the location for its new home and artwork depicting what the museum will look like once it is complete.

“We’ve been working on securing our permanent location for about a year and a half, and we just kind of went public with where we are this week,” Interact Children’s Museum President Lisa Martin told The Inter-Mountain. “We are very excited that we have found a permanent location for our museum. We just need to raise a little bit more money to buy it.”

The building ICM will be purchasing is located in the Colonial Estates housing development off of Lough Lane. The organization has raised $207,111 toward the $375,000 needed to buy the property, Martin said.

“Davis Trust owns all the empty lots and they own the Clubhouse at Colonial Estates,” Martin said. “They separated the Clubhouse out of the Home Owners’ Association, so they could sell us just the Clubhouse. There are still some people that own the homes there and they (DTC) are selling off the rest of the lots for home-building. But the Clubhouse is now a separate entity than the rest of Colonial Estates.”

Martin said having the Interact Children’s Museum in a residential area will be a nice fit for the facility.

“The museum will be in a residential neighborhood that is actually zoned,” she said. “It’s not zoned just residential, it’s zoned for the good of the community, so it works out great for us. We feel like being in a residential area is not a bad thing. There’s Colonial States there and there’s Highland Meadows across the road and it’s pretty easy to find, it’s just a direct shot off of Harrison Avenue.”

The project is currently in Phase 1, and once the building is purchased Phase 2 will begin and