The artifacts at the Plantation Historical Museum have a little bit more elbow room, courtesy of a recently completed 4,000-square-foot addition that doubled the size of the facility.

The $600,000 project, dedicated on Sept. 18, added an archive room, large exhibit space and auditorium.

''We can now handle the number of people who want to come through,'' said Shirley Schuler, the museum's curator. ``Before we couldn't handle it.''

The new building includes climate-controlled archival storage, which will have open shelving for artifacts, slots for graphics and space to store furniture.

An auditorium and multipurpose room has built-in lighted cases along one wall that will hold mannequins in historical dress. Lining another wall are lighted cases for dioramas depicting the city's history.

Currently a complete Triceratops skeleton, on loan from the Palm Beach Museum of Natural History, an exhibit of dinosaur paintings and an Ice Age exhibit are on display, Schuler said.

Schuler said they are hoping to raise $180,000 to erect an Everglades panorama in the room.

''It will represent the water, plants, trees and wildlife of the Everglades and will take visitors from sunrise to sunset'' with lighting and special sound effects, Schuler said.

The hallway between the old and new buildings holds storage space and a mini-gallery for traveling exhibits, such as works by the Plantation Art Guild, which is now on display, Schuler said.

The old archive room, previously a storeroom packed with artifacts that was too crowded to access, will be converted to the Genevieve S. Veltri Media Room, named for the longtime Plantation resident and wife of Frank Veltri, the city's mayor from 1975 to 1999.

The research room will contain scrapbooks, books, video and audio on city and state history.

The Plantation Historical Museum is at 511 N. Fig Tree Ln. Admission is free. For hours and other information, call 954-797-2722.

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