Dodge City ? The Boot Hill Museum, struggling for some time, may be about to go belly up.

The museum, which started in 1947 as a tribute to the heritage that has made Dodge City known throughout the world as a symbol of the Old West, may shut down for good at the end of the month without an emergency cash infusion, Jeff Thorpe, a member of the museum’s board, told the Community Facilities Advisory Board on Thursday.

“Dec. 30, Boot Hill is, for all purposes, without any operating funds,” Thorpe said.

He said the museum would need about $150,000 a year in money from the Dodge City and Ford County sales tax fund just to keep open. He did not say how long it would need that commitment of funds.

As it is, the museum received a $200,000 loan from that fund earlier this year to help reduce debt and cover operating expenses for the tourist season. Thorpe said expenses have exceeded income for the last seven years, with an average annual loss of $105,759.

“We, in order to meet our mission, have simply been running at that kind of a net loss,” he said. “We’ve covered it by some debt, of course, and have shut off that debt because that’s not the way to bring you around.”

The Community Facilities Advisory Board did not take action Thursday, but its chairman, Greg Starks, said it would move as quickly as possible to see what could be done. After the meeting, he said the board was developing an application form for organizations that want to request money from the sales tax fund.

Under the bylaws of the nonprofit museum organization, the property reverts to the city should the museum close. Thorpe said if that happened, the museum would have to liquidate assets to pay of its debt.

“Where do we go now?” he asked. “Do we sell it out to somebody else? We can sell the collections easily. But it’s like selling Grandma.”

Dodge City, founded in 1872, became the world’s largest shipping point for Longhorn cattle. With its rapid growth came a wild reputation that was later reined in by legendary Old West lawman such as Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp.

The community’s Western heritage was celebrated in “Dodge City,” a popular 1939 film starring Errol Flynn, which had its premiere in Dodge City. Later, the “Gunsmoke” show on radio and television was set in Dodge City, with the TV program enjoying a 20-year run starring James Arness as the featured character, Marshal Matt Dillon.

The “boot hill” reference is to a cemetery on the edge of town where the less fortunate were said to have been “buried with their boots on” after sometimes violent deaths. The original cemetery was used only from 1872 to 1878, with the bodies there eventually moved and reburied when the land was needed for expansion.

The museum, which is next to the site of the original “boot hill,” features a reconstruction of Dodge City’s Front Street.