One of the biggest impediments that the Butler County Historical Society's Heritage Center has faced throughout its existence has been that it is virtually invisible.

This city and the historical society have done a poor job of promoting the center's presence. Without adequate signs directing people to the center, which is at 119 W. New Castle St., no wonder it doesn't have much traffic.

But the success of the center isn't all about signs. The museum has very limited hours when it is open — based on tours by appointment.

The society must not only find a way to make the center more visible; it also must find a way to make it more accessible, by providing a regular schedule of hours when the center can be visited. Without that, the center will not achieve its full potential.

The announcement that the historical group has put the building housing the center up for sale should provide opportunities for enhancing the museum's place in the community's list of things to see and do.

Through the sale of the museum's current home, the Historical Society hopes either to move to a new, larger building that already exists or construct its own building.

Some of the things in the current museum are an original Bantam Jeep and an airplane whose wings currently are not attached because of the Heritage Center's limited space.

But even a new museum isn't going to be heavily visited if the city doesn't get its promotional act in gear and the Historical Society doesn't put more emphasis on making the center more accessible — to local residents as well as visitors. As for the issue of signage, there is better, more abundant signage announcing the location of Eracers Go-Kart Bumper-Boat Park on Route 68 than for Butler's historical treasure chest.

This historical treasure has been relegated to virtual invisibility. People unfamiliar with the current site might not realize that the museum's there, even if they're walking nearby.

When entering Butler, visitors should have information about what they can see, rather than being left to wonder why there isn't anything in Butler. Even the Shaw House, which is located behind the courthouse, could have more traffic if there was more prominent signage alerting people where to look for it.

Again, this city has not done a good job of promoting some of its assets, which then negatively impacts the business community, since it cannot feed off of that additional traffic.

"We have had so much traffic since moving to the Shaw House, and we want that for the museum as well," said Pat Collins, society president. She was referring to the moving of the group's offices to Shaw a few years ago from the National City (now PNC Bank) building.

According to Collins, the society also needs additional space for working on its archives. That's another reason why the current building is inadequate for what should be a growing museum operation, not a stagnant one.

The city's pursuit of the Centre City Project should recognize the need to incorporate other assets into the total downtown development picture, even if they are not actually located alongside the project area.

A front-page article in Thursday's Butler Eagle detailed the current effort aimed at removing excessive street signs on Main Street to make travel easier for drivers and to unclutter the street. That is overdue.

But also overdue is for the city to finally recognize the importance of attractive, well-placed signage to call attention to the positive things that the city has to offer — two of them being the Heritage Center and Shaw House.

The sale of the Heritage Center building is providing the opportunity to weigh all of that, not only in the context of the Historical Society but also regarding other assets.

The question is whether the city government and various local groups will seize that opportunity. The Butler Downtown Design Committee is one group that seems to be on the right track regarding signs, but the question is whether it will be able to accomplish the task by itself.

"One of the Design Committee's goals is to promote ease of accessibility to various city venues while providing aesthetic consistency and improving the downtown's appearance," said Jill Kraus, a Design Committee volunteer. "The commitee is also compiling a potential list of local points of interest and venues in the city, evaluating the optimum traffic patterns and working toward an acceptable design for local and directional signage."

Other groups, elected officials and members of the business community should tap in to the Design Committee's efforts and offer whatever help they might be able to provide.

However the Heritage Center's relocation effort shakes out, the Design Committee should ensure that the center is not left out of what the committee is striving to achieve.

Butler has a notable history. It should capitalize on it.

— J.R.K.