Clinton Lake museum director Martha Parker wants to share family history with anyone who wants to research their ties to the Wakarusa River Valley.

That’s why she has been working with a board the past three years to develop a plan for a new 4,800-square-foot addition to the Wakarusa River Valley and Heritage Museum, now housed in an old milk shed in Bloomington Park.

“We have completely outgrown it,” she said.

She estimates final costs to be about $400,000. To raise money, Parker had an open house Saturday and will have another today. She also wanted to hear feedback from visitors and display three design plans created by Kansas University architecture professor Dan Rockhill’s fall 2004 studio class.

The open house is free and open to the public from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. today.

At the open house on Saturday, Parker said some visitors were searching for family photos.

“A lady came today to see a picture of her dad, but it was part of the war exhibit. Her dad was in the Vietnam War,” said Parker’s sister Mary Gordon, 72. “If we put the new museum up, we can display everything. We need more space.”

The current museum can only hold one of 50 exhibits, Parker said. An agricultural collection is now on display in addition to two permanent collections, one of nine surrounding communities and a three-dimensional Underground Railroad. The museum is registered as an Underground Railroad Facility by the National Park Service.

Parker said a 60-foot guiding light would be installed near the new site that would shine day and night to represent the “candle in the window” that guided slaves.

Nancy Amison visited the open house and noticed her father, Warren Banning, was photographed along with Parker and Gordon’s father. She said she wanted to request photos and artifacts from her father to add to the new museum.

“I hope they can fund it,” Amison said of the new museum. “It would be money well spent. It’s something you can bring kids and grandkids to; it’s an education.”

Parker said after three more fundraisers she and the board will evaluate finances and the designs before moving forward. She said they have an architect in mind who is interested in historic sites.