Designer works to transform historic hatchery

In 1889, Frank Blaisdell, a nationally-known landscape architect, came to Neosho to study the newly acquired land which would become the Neosho National Fish Hatchery.

Blaisdell’s job was to design a plan which would include ponds, water basins, and buildings for the new hatchery.

Now, more than 120 years later, another man has come to Neosho with a design in his head which will transform this famous old hatchery into an exciting new place.

Michael Lewis, design director for Malone Design/Fabrication of Decatur, Ga., has put together his dream of what a visitors center museum should be in Neosho.

For several months, he has worked to create what will be a world of water and wonder.

“When I came to Neosho for the first time, it was not at all what I was expecting,” he said. “It was amazing to me.”

Taking that amazement that struck him in Neosho, Lewis began designing what will be a wonderful set of displays and exhibits for the soon-to-be-opened visitors center.

“The exhibit or museum area will be all about the uniqueness of this place and the amazing story there is to tell here,” he said.

Lewis, who was born in Memphis, Tenn., began his college training in a small Presbyterian college in South Carolina, then continued on to study at New York University and finally in England to study at Cambridge.

Lewis earned his college degree in theatrical design and cinematography. His first job was working in live theatre, but in time he became disillusioned with his job.

“For one production, I made a quilt that was 40 by 40 inches,” he said. “I made every little piece and sewed every little stitch. It took me six weeks to make that quilt. And then it was on stage for a total of 45 minutes — six weeks work for 45 minutes.

“That’s when I told myself I wanted to do something that would last a lot longer.”

Thus began Lewis’ career as a designer of museum and museum exhibits.
After six years with a design company in Houston, Texas, he secured a job with Malone, the oldest museum design company in the nation.

With about 50 employees, the company is currently working on some 30 different museum projects.

“This has been a fun one,” Lewis said. “I’m in charge of it, but I am getting great help from many of the employees, and we are all enjoying this project. People come around all the time to look at our work and asked who did this and who did that.”

Once the exhibits and displays are open to the public, visitors will find themselves in almost a new world, a world that seems to be moving, like a river that flows on and on, day after day.

There will be such wonders as a visit into a cave, electronic scrapbooks with pages that will turn at the press of a button, and hundreds of exciting, interesting and educational images.

Some of these images will be of the estimated 80 different species of fish which have been raised in Neosho at some time in the hatchery’s 120-year history.

There will also be images of the hatchery as it  changed over the years and of the people who work at the hatchery, support the hatchery and just come to enjoy it.

“When people leave the visitors center, I hope they will be more aware of why this hatchery is important to the community and to the area, and what an amazing job these people do with limited resources,” Lewis said of his museum plans.

Lewis says that everyone he has talked to in Neosho has a real love for the hatchery and he is struck by the uniqueness of the place.

As the lead designer for this project, Lewis will place his name in the history book, alongside that of Frank Blaisdell as a creator of something very special for Neosho.

Lewis has taken great pride in the work he has been assigned to do.

“I’m genuinely thrilled to tell the story of this place,” he said. “It’s an amazing story.”

That appreciation for one of Neosho’s most beloved places qualifies Michael Lewis to be a great neighbor whose work will last and be enjoyed by several generations to come.

Kay Hively is the editor of The Post, and writes a weekly column for the Daily News.