The Fort Des Moines Museum and Education Center could be forced to close next year if supporters cannot find financial backing.

The museum commemorates two U.S. military milestones that took place in Des Moines.

From May through October 1917, Fort Des Moines was the training site for the Army's first black officer’s training class.

Twenty-five years later, during World War II, it was the first induction and training center for the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps — later known as the Women’s Army Corps — and the only one to train women officers.

The museum opened in 2004 after $20 million was raised to overhaul a former bachelor's barracks and add displays detailing the site's historical significance.

But the museum has struggled in recent years to heat the building and keep the lights on. Artifacts donated to the museum from people across the country remain locked in the barrack's basement where they are at risk of deterioration due to poor climate control, museum staffers say.

FORT DM HISTORY:Fort Des Moines was home to US Army's first black officer training school

Matthew Harvey, president of the board of directors, said there have been few monetary donations and volunteers have reached into their own pockets to pay the museum's bills.

The community either doesn't care or has forgotten about the historic importance of Fort Des Moines, he said.

"We've had thousands of visitors in the last four years, but we haven't had much support," Harvey said. "In January, we'll have to declare the museum closed to the public."

'This needs to be a community resource'

The 18,000-square-foot museum, housed in a three-story brick building, has hosted presidential candidates, Veterans Day celebrations and black history events.

Today, the museum's three volunteers open the building to the public just one day a week or by appointment.

It's frustrating, said Lawrence Williamson, a U.S. Navy veteran, who began working at the museum four years ago. When he first arrived, the artifacts — dozens of uniforms, photos, news clippings, letters and other war-era items — were piled together in heaps.

The volunteers don't know who donated most the artifacts. Previous curators kept few records, Williamson said.

Williamson and Gail Olson, retired Army Reserve, spend most Thursdays — the one day a week the museum remains open — cataloging what they can in a database they built themselves.

Olson is trying to track down what happened to the first female officers who graduated from the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAACs) training facility. She does the research at home since there's no internet service at the museum.

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Williamson said the museum used to pay him $1,500 a month to do maintenance. He now does the work for free.

The staff volunteers have bought replacement American and Iowan flags, paint and toiletries to stock the museum bathrooms.

"We don't mind that temporarily, but we can't do that for the rest of our lives," Williamson said.

Mark Vuckovich, CEO of the neighboring Blank Park Zoo, said he got involved with the museum five years ago when he paid to fix the museum's gate after a car drove through it.

"I'm a history nut and I got sucked in," Vuckovich said.

This summer he sent some of the zoo's employees next door to cut the overgrown grass and fix the museum's broken air conditioner.

"This needs to be a community resource," Vuckovich said. "What do we have to do to not have this become an eyesore and lose the collection?"

He's floated the idea of turning the museum into a community center to complement Blackbird Investments' $40 million project that's converting some Fort Des Moines buildings into 140 apartments.

'They ran that project into the ground'

The nonprofit Fort Des Moines' Black Officer's Memorial was established in 1997, according to Iowa Secretary of State records.

Robert Morris, its first director, is the son of James Morris Jr., the first black American soldier to serve in a white combat unit during World War II.

Morris launched a campaign that raised $8 million in public funds and another $2 million in private donations to renovate the building and create the museum's first exhibits.

Gen. Colin Powell was a member of the project's advisory board. Local business leaders like William Knapp and Gary Kirke helped drive the fundraising campaign.

"The memorial park will be another gem for central Iowa," a Des Moines Register editorial from 2000 proclaimed. "When all of the descendants of those who were stationed at Fort Des Moines at those two critical junctures in American history are factored in, the guest list for the 2002 dedication could grow well into the thousands."

But after launching to much fanfare, the museum failed to attract visitors and donors.

Morris blames the succession of directors and board members that followed him for the problems that exist today. He said he was voted off the board in 2003.

"They’ve ran the project into the ground and destroyed the whole thing," Morris said.

Harvey, who joined the board in 2013, said whatever happened is in the past. Instead of questioning how we got to this point, the question should be "what do we want it to be in the future?" he said.

"We really can't afford to get consumed by everyone else's personal agenda because our commitment is to honor the men and women who served in Fort Des Moines," he said.

Can the museum be saved?

The museum's recent IRS tax filings show that contributions have fluctuated.

From 2012 to 2014 they ranged from $42,000 to $83,000 per year before increasing to $254,840 in 2015.

Harvey said the museum's board has been using the money it raises to pay off debts.

When he started in 2013, the museum was paying two full-time staffers at the expense of the electric, insurance and maintenance bills, he said.

Harvey could not provide figures on how the museum has spent the money it has raised since 2013. He also could not provide a copy of the nonprofit's most recent IRS filing.

"We are trying to clean up the mess we inherited," Harvey said.

Bravo of Greater Des Moines, a local funder for the metro's arts, culture and heritage scene, awarded the museum between $5,000 and $10,000 each year from 2006 to 2013.

"Fort Des Moines Museum would have been eligible for an operating grant (this year)," Bravo executive director Sally Dix said. "But they did not apply."

The museum's nonprofit status has been temporarily suspended three times for failure to file a biennial report — a one-page document listing the nonprofit corporation's officers.

It was inactive last month when the Register began looking into the museum. But its active status was restored as of Oct. 16.

Richard Koontz, director of the Iowa Nonprofit Resource Center, said a lot of nonprofits forget or fail to file the necessary paperwork to keep their status active with the state.

But, he said, a history of dissolution can dissuade big donors.

"If they go to the Secretary of State's website and see the thing's been dissolved three times, do you really want to give to an entity like that?" he said.

Nonprofits face bigger problems if they lose their federal tax exemption status, which allows people to take a tax deduction for donations, Koontz said.

Fort Des Moines has maintained its federal tax exemption status, IRS filings show.

"I think a lot of people make an assumption that when we ask about support, we’re looking for a handout," Harvey said. "But we’re looking for financial resources to serve the community in a good and positive way."

He said he hopes the board can find financial support to keep the doors open — at least once a week.

But "we have to be realistic," he said. We "cannot continue to use our own personal money to fund it."