E'town tourism approves donation for barracks restoration

The Elizabethtown Tourism Commission approved a recommendation from its special events committee Wednesday to donate $2,500 toward the restoration of the last surviving World War II barracks at Fort Knox.

The donation came after retired Col. Mike Weaver, a former state representative and the project’s manager, asked the commission last month to consider assisting the effort financially. Sherry Murphy, director of the Elizabethtown Tourism & Convention Bureau, said Weaver did not specify an amount.

As of early October, the effort raised around $50,000 in donations, which includes a $25,000 gift from the Radcliff and Fort Knox Tourism and Convention Commission and a $10,000 private donation from World War II veteran and local businessman Bill Swope. Weaver has raised additional funds through $200 sponsorships from veterans, politicians, business leaders and organizations for a fundraiser this month at the General George Patton Museum, of Leadership, where the barracks resides.

Weaver told the commission the project is worthwhile because it preserves an important component of American and Fort Knox history.