WEST SPRINGFIELD – The Dec. 14 grand opening of the West Springfield Town Museum was the result of nearly a year of curating artifacts from the town’s history into a single building, but it was generations in the making.

From 1 to 3 p.m. the public filtered through the seven-room museum, adorned with decorations for the holiday season. Each room had a Christmas tree set up that was surrounded by vintage toys.

“We’re so thrilled that the town purchased this building to house our town’s ephemera,” said Suzi Silver, a resident and a member of the environmental committee and garden club.

Originally built in 1922 as a residence, the property was purchased by the town in 2017 for $667,400. The West Springfield Historic Commission (WSHC) and the West Springfield Park and Recreation Department reached out to the public for artifacts from colonial times through the early 20th century and added them to the historical items that had been stored and displayed in buildings around town, including models, maps and documents.

Each room is themed to represent a different aspect of the town’s history, from the Bear Hole Resort and Massasoit Reservoir to the recreation options offered at Mittineague Park.

One room is filled with intricate models – one contains nearly 1,500 pieces – of historic buildings from throughout the town’s history, some still standing, others no longer. The models were built by resident George Holmes in the 1970s.

WSHC member Anita Salamon said her favorite room in the museum is the one containing the fireplace. During the grand opening, stockings were hung on the mantel and each of them bore an initial. She explained to Reminder Publishing that each initial represented a different West Springfield resident who had been involved with the property.

In the same room, a model of the Josiah Day House sits beneath a picture of the historic home, which is the oldest known intact brick Saltbox-style home in the country. A glass case next to it displays items on loan from the Josiah Day House Museum, dating from the 1750s to 1902, that highlight the way residents lived throughout the town’s history.

“I’m thrilled that we finally have a place to showcase [models from] Mr. Holmes, from Bear Hole, the things from Mittineague we remember as children,” said Carol Smith of the West Springfield Historical Commission.

“This is a start,” Smith said. She said she’d like to see it grow into a more “hands-on” museum. Smith also said she’d like to see the Civil War room expand to include artifacts from World War II.

In the Civil War Room, Steve Leclair, another member of the WSHC, spoke with visitors about the significance of West Springfield’s 37th Massachusetts Regiment, in which his great-grandfather served.

“The 37th was the first regiment to be issued repeating rifles,” Leclair said.

The room contains a Union Army Uniform, a ceremonial military sword from the era and letters sent home from the front, all belonging to West Springfield residents at the time. A tabletop Christmas tree also sits in the room, next to a sign reading, “soldiers used hardtack and salt pork as ornaments.” The tree was decorated to reflect that fact.

The museum, located at 55 Altamont Ave., is open on the first Saturday of each month from 1 to 3 p.m. and by appointment. For more information, call West Springfield Park and Recreation Department at 263-3284.