Abilene ? A developer hopes to renovate and expand Old Abilene Town and Museum, turning it into a tourist attraction similar to Branson, Mo.’s Silver Dollar City.

Terry Tietjens said he had an option to buy the seven-acre museum property from the current owners, and he has plans to purchase three other nearby properties to make a total of 17 acres.

He is forming a public foundation, Historic Abilene Inc., to purchase and operate the facility. He’s also seeking donations, grants and bonds to raise the expected $6 million to $8 million that will be needed to restore current buildings, move other historic structures to the area and build new ones.

Tietjens hopes the attraction will draw 100,000 to 150,000 more tourists each year.

“It certainly will be an important tourism boost for the community and for the state,” Tietjens said.

Tietjens’ plans include restoring the 1887 Rock Island Depot, the TC Henry Barn, a schoolhouse, log cabins and the old Merchant’s Hotel. He also wants to construct replicas of other buildings, including the Bonebrake Opera House and Drovers Cottage, a hotel from the 1860s that housed cowboys traveling the Chisholm Trail.

“We want it to be similar to Silver Dollar City,” Tietjens said. “We’ll have activities and so forth.”

Scott Allegrucci, director of the division of travel and tourism development in the Kansas Department of Commerce, said the ability to draw tourists would depend on the quality of the attraction, the kind of support the community offered and marketing.

“There is so much of a rich history in the state, and more and more people are seeking those heritage tourism experiences,” Allegrucci said. “The ability of Abilene to offer a really quality experience related to that could be a big draw.”