After the completion of the Pulaski Train Station, the Town turned its attention to re-establishing the Raymond F. Ratcliffe Museum. Using the proceeds from a state grant, the Town erected a pre-engineered free standing building to house the new museum. As required by the grant, the museum higlights the significant role that transportation, in particular rail transport, played in the early and middle stages of the Towns history.
The museum features exhibits including antique fire engines, transportation memorabilia, and other exhibits detailing the emergence of the Town as a transportation hub and industrial center.
The centerpiece of the new museum is the Brockmeyer-Ryan scale reconstruction of Downtown Pulaski as it appeared in the early 1950's. The 80' x 20' scale layout, built between 1945 and 1985 features scale reproductions of buildings created from the actual blueprints of original structures from that time period. The display also incorporates over 170 model railroad cars and engines that are also to scale with the miniature Town.
At the Virginia Municipal League Conference in 2014, the Town of Pulaski received the organization's Achievement Award for the 5,000-10,000 population category. The award recognized the Town's extraordinary effort to bring about rebuilding of it historic train station, as well as construction of the Raymond F. Ratcliffe Memorial Transportation Museum. Tremendous care and coordination with many partners and volunteers were the core of the construction, which involved salvaging, cleaning and curating objects damaged by the fire. An additional challenge was added to this already tall order by the F-2 tornado which struck Pulaski on April 8, 2011. Visitors to the museum are encouraged to check out the display board entitled "A Story of Resilience", which describes how the community juggled rebuilding of the train station, restoration of museum contents, and damage from the tornado. As noted in the Virginia Town & City article about the Town's achievement, "The complexity of the project, including many hands - both volunteers and contractors alike - made its execution a significant challenge and its success all the more sweet."
To find out more about the museum, its exhibits and what it has to offer, click here.