The Museum's Moving Moment Arrives - Updated

The dignitaries were damp, and I have to say the museum looked a little nervous.

No, I didn't do one of my infamous inanimate interviews with the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library. Frankly, I tried, but The Learning Channel, or TLC, won the bid for exclusive rights. I tried to shout a couple of questions, which just made everybody nervous. The cops started edging toward me.

It's for the best. I probably would have tried to break the ice with some joke about how her rear turned out to be 53 tons heavier than her front, complicating the move, then something about all those pilsners and kolaches, ha, ha. Yeah.

And I know she is a she because the mayor officially says so. “Today, she's on the move,” Mayor Ron Corbett said during remarks that were preceded by a yell from an impatient citizen. “Move that building!”

Yes, there was a considerable wait for the moment of movement. It poured, twice. Then there was an obligatory parade of speakers to add historic oratory weight to the event.

At 1,740 tons, weight was really the last thing we needed. Still, all the speechifying gave Jeremy Patterson, whose namesake Washington, Iowa, house-moving company is pulling off this feat, time for last-minute checks.

You can't blame local leaders for wanting to mark such a moving moment, especially Gail Naughton, the museum's president.

“Three years ago, we all watched as a flood devastated a city,” said Naughton, who later christened the museum's voyage by smashing a bottle of bubbly on her bricks. “Our move shows that you can recover from a catastrophic event.”

At 8:50-something, streamer cannons fired and the museum inched forward on its riverfront cruise, which will end with a 90-degree pivot, then on and up to its new foundation. Streamers, caught by the wind, covered workers watching the beams and semi-sized tires.

Sure, at 1/8 mph, you had to strain to see movement. But it was a remarkable sight for squinting eyes.

“It's such an amazing event. I just had to see this,” said Eldon Wohlleven, who came from Marion to watch with his wife, Carol.

"It's wonderful," said Leora Zahorik, who donated the museum's grand chandelier along with her brother, Edwin.

From the 16th Avenue Bridge, you could see the museum crawl. The other direction is Mount Trashmore, where it might have ended up had it been demolished instead of relocated.

The moving contract is for $713,000, Naughton said. FEMA is covering the cost as a hazard mitigation project, and is documenting the move as an example for how flooded structures might be saved elsewhere. The publicity value for Patterson's firm is priceless.

The museum will sit 3 feet above the 2008 flood level. But I had to ask Naughton a rotten question. What if it's not high enough?

“If it floods the building at that height, we'd all better be speaking to Noah,” she said.

UPDATE -- When I returned for a noon-hour briefing, I was a little surprised to see how far the museum had moved. It's rolled 220 feet, according to Patterson. That's as far as it will go today.

The next job is to begin pivoting the building 90 desgrees so that it will be in line with its new foundation once it starts its treck uphill. It's possible that pivot could be completed today, weather and worker permitting.

"It will turn around on a dime," Patterson said. And as smooth as it's gone so far, there's no reason to doubt him.