Calif.’s Claremont Museum of Art closes doors after doing battle with economy for 2 years

Bad economy forces Calif. art museum to close

CLAREMONT, Calif. — The Claremont Museum of Art has closed its doors.

The museum, in a historic Southern California lemon packing house, was in the planning stages for 20 years. But reality and the recession arrived about the same time, and it was only able to stay open for two years.

Directors say it would have taken $213,000 to operate another year with one employee and a large group of volunteers. They could raise only six weeks’ worth of pledges, so they decided to close. Sunday was its last day.

The museum’s board says it will work to bring the museum back as the economy improves.

Meanwhile, founding president Marguerite McIntosh says as the museum puts its works into storage, it will also put some in a place without walls — on the Internet.