GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1999

S	1 

SENATE BILL 174*

Short Title:  Spencer Shops Funds.	(Public)

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Sponsors: Senators Phillips, Cochrane, Hartsell; Albertson, Allran, Ballance, Carpenter, Carter, Clodfelter, Cooper, Dalton, Dannelly, Forrester, Garrou, Garwood, Gulley, Hagan, Harris, Jordan, Kerr, Kinnaird, Lee, Lucas, Martin of Pitt, Martin of Guilford, Metcalf, Miller, Odom, Purcell, Reeves, Robinson, Rucho, Shaw of Cumberland, Warren, and Wellons.

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Referred to:  Appropriations/Base Budget.

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February 25, 1999

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS TO RENOVATE THE BACK SHOP AT THE NORTH CAROLINA TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM AT HISTORIC SPENCER SHOPS.
Whereas, the Southern Railway Company established Spencer Shops in 1896 as a major repair facility halfway between Washington and Atlanta for steam locomotives and other railroad equipment; and
Whereas, in 1977 and 1979 the Southern Railway Company donated 57 acres and 13 of the original buildings at Spencer Shops to the State of North Carolina for use as a transportation museum; and
Whereas, in 1977 Spencer Shops was placed in the National Register of Historic Places; and
Whereas, the North Carolina Transportation Museum opened in 1980 and now provides annually 100,000 of the State's citizens, tourists, and school children with many exciting exhibits consisting of an impressive collection of rail cars, antique automobiles, and transportation artifacts; and
Whereas, the North Carolina Transportation Museum Foundation helped the State successfully restore and open the Roundhouse in 1996; and
Whereas, the North Carolina Transportation Museum lacks sufficient exhibit space, adequate classrooms, and an auditorium large enough to accommodate the museum's visitors; and
Whereas, the renovation of the 1905 Back Shop will provide an exhibit hall featuring a chronological overview of the State's transportation history in order to meet the museum's mandate "to preserve and disseminate the inland transportation history of North Carolina"; and
Whereas, the renovation of the Back Shop will make the North Carolina Transportation Museum one of the nation's premier transportation museums with a comprehensive collection of artifacts, innovative educational programs, and preservation of an industrial site central to the State and region's history; Now, therefore,
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  The General Assembly appropriates to the Department of Cultural Resources, Division of Archives and History, the sum of five million dollars ($5,000,000) for the 1999-2000 fiscal year for the North Carolina Transportation Museum Foundation to renovate the Back Shop at the North Carolina Transportation Museum at Spencer Shops.
Section 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 1999.