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(March 16, 2007) – The Encounter Center on the Missouri Riverfront is taking shape with the installation of steel and wood framing. Despite several weeks of hard winter weather, construction has kept pace with the building plan. “Visitors can now begin to see the outline of the Encounter Center,” says Mark Monson, president of Missouri River Historical Development, Inc. (MRHD). “We anticipate everything will stay on schedule which means the Encounter Center will open to the public in late fall of this year.”
The $3.3 million Encounter Center will feature a gallery, a 100-seat auditorium, activity room, restrooms, and areas for outdoor events. An enclosed pathway known as The Connection will invite visitors to journey from the interpretive center’s time of Lewis & Clark to The Encounter Center’s changing themes expressed in photo exhibitions, adult and children’s classes, music, movies, lectures, presentations and panel discussions. Encounter Center programming and exhibits will focus on Native and non-Native cultures, the Missouri River and the land that sustains people in Siouxland and beyond, says Marcia Poole, director. The project architect is Owen Mamura for Cannon Moss Brygger & Associates. W.A. Klinger, Inc. is the general contractor. The interpretive center’s present gallery/classroom will become a resource room and a small-group meeting place as part of the expansion. The Keelboat Theater will continue to host short movies on Corps of Discovery themes. MRHD is the non-profit organization that holds the license for riverboat gaming in Woodbury County. Its funding is generated from an agreement between MRHD and Argosy Casino Sioux City which allows Argosy to run a gaming operation in Woodbury County using MRHD’s gaming license. Since 1994, MRHD has distributed more than $9.2 million to Woodbury County non-profits and governmental bodies. MRHD built and sustains the Sioux City Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center.
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MRHD is funding the entire cost of the
Encounter Center which will add more than
10,000 square feet to create a riverfront
cultural complex. The Encounter Center is
conceived as the next step in the
post-bicentennial evolution of the Sioux
City Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center which
opened in September 2002 and has welcomed
more than a quarter million visitors.