GUILFORD – The Guilford Historical Society will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its founding beginning at 9 a.m. this Saturday in the society's newly acquired home: the former Guilford Presbyterian Church.
The event will celebrate 20 years of preserving Guilford history as well as the grand opening of the society's new home.
Guilford Historical Society Historian Tom Gray, who has been the society's historian since its founding in 1998, said the society was offered the closed Guilford Presbyterian Church to preserve and use as its home last year.
"So we decided to leave our first home, the Klee House," said Gray. "We knew we had to take this opportunity as our membership had grown with meetings of over 30 people attending, and we wanted to preserve the church structure."
This Saturday, Assemblyman Cliff Crouch will be the guest speaker at the ribbon cutting celebration officially unveiling the society's new home. Gray will also speak at the celebration, along with Guilford Historical Society President Scott Parsons.
The Guilford Historical Society was formed at Gray's suggestion during a town community meeting in 1998.
The creation of the society was approved, and it immediately began holding monthly meetings at the Klee House featuring various guest speakers.
"As the society grew, we first worked on obtaining our New York State Charter. This was followed by working on, and receiving, our 501c3 from the federal government on August 27, 2001," said Gray.
