CUMBERLAND — Gov. Wes Moore’s proposed fiscal 2027 capital budget includes $355,000 for the Allegany County Historical Society’s new History Discovery Center.
ACHS President Dave Williams said the organization in 2023 competed in a national auction to acquire the 1845 Canada Hose House and adjacent Blue Spring parcel from the city of Cumberland.
The historical society spent $167,000 of its reserves, plus $33,000 in community contributions and in-kind work, to make the facility operational.
“The History Discovery Center At Blue Spring now serves the city’s oldest neighborhood with a variety of community service and history education programs,” Williams said.
ACHS received funding from various organizations, including Preservation Maryland for work on the former firehouse.
Williams said funds in the proposed state budget will cover projects, including exterior safety lighting and fence construction on adjacent parcels, historic documentation and project management, design drawings and building permits for, and construction of, a kitchen addition that faces Blue Spring.
“It houses history-related employment as well,” he said of the firehouse, where Oxbow Cultural Research, an archaeological service, is located. “That’s a double win.”
The facility, which includes parcels at 332, 400 and 402 Mechanic St., also hosts various neighborhood events and meetings.
“It’s a busy place and that’s part of the idea,” Williams said and added the state funding will benefit the community.
“We’re pretty excited about it.”
Overall, Allegany County will get nearly $17 million under the proposed capital budget.
The plan includes more than $2.8 million for campground improvements at Rocky Gap State Park, and $2.4 million for Allegany College of Maryland’s workforce development and training center renovation.
Wills Mountain State Park — which received significant acreage additions in recent years via purchases from the Department of Natural Resources but has never had legal public access — is budgeted to get $2 million for an entrance, road and parking improvements.
Washington Middle School will get more than $1.5 million for an HVAC replacement, and $831,000 for an early childhood center addition.
Other local projects in the proposal include $1.15 million for a 78-inch parallel pipeline from Mill Race to a combined sewer overflow storage, and $976,000 for the Flintstone Wastewater Treatment Plant.
A Frostburg Water Sustainability Initiative is budgeted at $400,000, and the city’s Parris N. Glendening Recreation Complex court lighting is set to get nearly $24,000.
Cumberland is listed to get $400,000 for programs that include a fire suppression system grant, roof replacement and age-in-place home modification for senior citizens.
The proposal includes roughly $82,000 for Lonaconing projects such as sports fields and commercial and residential facade work, and $200,000 for improvements to Bruce Park and $50,000 for facade projects in Westernport.
Other areas of the proposal include a $34 million allowance for the Thomas B. Finan Center that provides mental health care.
More than $40 million is budgeted for maintenance of highways and bridges in Allegany, Garrett and Washington counties.
The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad is anticipated to get a $250,000 grant.
A disparity grant, which helps the state’s poorer counties, is estimated at more than $13 million for Allegany County.
The county is set to receive more than $3 million of video lottery terminal revenue for local impact grants, at least $1 million from the Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention and Policy, and more than $2 million of the Maryland 911 Board’s telephone surcharge fund.
Additionally, Moore last week proposed Maryland provide $12 million to help Allegany County recover from a May 13 flash flood that devastated areas including Westernport.