The Baxter Springs Heritage Center and Museum in Baxter Springs, Kan., recently completed a $500,000 expansion, and will be hosting a daylong open house Saturday, reports the Joplin (Mo.) Globe.
The open house starts at 9:30 a.m., with a ceremonial ribbon-cutting at 2 p.m.
About 7,600 square feet have been added to the museum, putting the total at 23,000. The expansion was financed entirely by donations.
The addition includes displays on American Indians and black settlement in Baxter Springs after the Civil War. It also includes an exhibit about Route 66. A baseball exhibit features former Baxter Springs Whiz Kid and New York Yankee Mickey Mantle.
Mantle played a lot of ball in Baxter Springs before being signed by the New York Yankees in a Hall-of Fame career. Mantle grew up in the nearby Route 66 town of Commerce, Okla. The house is about a block and a half off old 66.