Breaking news! The Asbury Park Planning Board unanimously approved Interfaith Neighbor’s plans for construction of the Marmora Center at 1210 Springwood Avenue, Asbury Park, NJ. The section of the ground floor facing Springwood Avenue will soon be the permanent home of the Asbury Park Museum on the West Side. Construction is expected to begin in early 2025 with the museum opening in 2026. The 1.400 sq-ft space will explore the history and culture of Asbury Park’s West Side, from the late 1800s to the present. Major emphasis will be on the area’s music legacy, including Brass Bands, Ragtime, Stride Piano, Jazz, Blues, Spirituals, Gospel, Rhythm & Blues, Doo Wop, Soul and other music genres. Exhibits will spotlight the past music venues of Springwood Avenue and community institutions like the West Side Community Center and the Asbury Park Boys Club. Planned are interactive kiosks, slide show and video monitors, listening stations, and hundreds of rare photographs, posters, sheet music, records, uniforms, musical instruments and other artifacts. Rotating exhibits and special events will keep visitors returning.
This will be an expensive venture but with public support, we are confident funds can be raised through a combination of private donations, corporate sponsorships and grants. Fund raising will begin shortly. For the Asbury Park Museum, a 501c3 non-profit, all volunteer organization, this is the first step toward a permanent brick & mortar presence in Asbury Park. A larger city museum is planned in the future. We’ll post more info soon on www.APMuseum.org
For Charlie & Pamela Horner, this museum will be the culmination of 15 years of intensive research into the city’s West Side music legacy. Their second volume of the book,“ Springwood Avenue Harmony, 1946 – 1980,” will be published shortly.