The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art has entered into a long-term lease with Bedford Borough to house a satellite location in the historic Anderson House.

BEDFORD — The longest-running satellite museum system in the country just got bigger.

On Monday morning, the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art entered into a long-term lease with the borough of Bedford for the historic Anderson House downtown to become SAMA’s fifth satellite.

“Art museums in rural areas are extremely rare,” SAMA’s founding director and current board member Michael Strueber said to more than three dozen museum and borough officials during a press conference shortly after the lease was signed.

To have five in a region such as central Pennsylvania is unprecedented, he said.

While the 1814 Anderson House was in “remarkable condition” for its age, the museum will invest $750,000 to $1 million to retrofit the Pitt Street building, SAMA Executive Director Gary Moyer said.

“We’ll do a lot of fit and finish to bring it up to museum (accreditation) standards,” such as installing appropriate heating, ventilation and humidity controls, Moyer said. “We are accredited with the Alliance of American Museums,” which requires such measures.

Most of the costs will be paid for by public and private grants, and work should be completed by the fall, although a $100,000 Pennsylvania Keystone Construction grant could affect the opening schedule because of the timetable on state funding, he said.

The house was built by Dr. John Anderson, who developed the nearby Bedford Springs Hotel, to be his residence and the site of the first bank between Chambersburg and Pittsburgh. The original bank vault can still be seen inside the house.

Anderson’s heirs donated it to the borough in 1966.

Its tenants have included the Bedford County Chamber of Commerce and, most recently, an antique store. When that closed two years ago, there was talk of the borough selling the building. But an alarmed Steve George, who is a local historical activist and former Borough Council member, began a crusade for the Borough to keep the building and put a SAMA satellite there.

George, a retired architect from Pittsburgh, learned a popular regional artist from Bedford, Kevin Kutz, had an exhibition at SAMA in Loretto. So he reached out to Kutz, who referred him to Strueber.

“I called Michael within 10 minutes, and I was in his house (in Hollidaysburg) within an hour,” George said.

Strueber confirmed George’s story and added: “I had just gotten home from the hospital after having a major heart attack,” but that did not deter either one.

SAMA hired a consulting firm from Pittsburgh to study the feasibility of the Bedford expansion.

“A fifth SAMA museum at the Anderson House offers great potential for creating an important long-term cultural resource that would be mutually beneficial to both the organization and the community,” according to a report by Pfaffman + Associates.

Besides enhancing Bedford’s historic district and thriving arts community, the report estimated that the Bedford museum would lure an additional 8,000 to 10,000 visitors annually with a yearly economic impact of more than $2 million.

“Museums represent an economic driver in the communities where they reside,” Moyer said.

SAMA will benefit by aligning with a flourishing cultural community in downtown Bedford, said SAMA board president James Cayce.

Other local officials agreed, with the mayor, borough manager, chamber of commerce president as well as State Rep. Jesse Topper among the dignitaries who welcomed SAMA to the community on Monday.

Moyer said it is the most significant project that SAMA has undertaken in more than 20 years.

SAMA opened its doors on the campus of Saint Francis University 41 years ago. Three years after that, in 1979, it opened its first satellite in Altoona after Strueber developed a satellite model based on a Boston museum satellite that has since closed.

SAMA since has opened satellites in Johnstown and Ligonier.

Its permanent collection has grown to more than 4,500 works. In addition to rotating that collection among the satellites, it brings in works by regional, national and international artists, as well as offers art education and other programs.

SAMA-Bedford will feature six galleries, rotating exhibitions, conference and meeting spaces and installations of Anderson House memorabilia, according to Moyer. It also will serve as a command post for community arts organizations and will offer events, including art classes and workshops, exhibition receptions and an annual fundraiser.

SAMA recently added four board members from Bedford: George, Mari-Pat Beene, Jerry Hawk and Dean Lemley.

The 30-year lease for $1 that was signed Monday will be renewable every 10 years.

Mirror Staff Writer Cherie Hicks is at 949-7030.