Museum Breaks Ground And Changes Name

We're one step closer to having a national museum in downtown Mobile. Officials broke ground on the National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico Thursday morning. Alabama Governor Bob Riley, Senator Richard Shelby and other dignitaries were in town to welcome the new facility. They raised a flag and did a traditional "keel laying" rather than the more common first shovel-full of dirt ceremony. The museum's also changing its name to "GulfQuest.” Organizers say that'll make the 38 million dollar building easier to remember for tourists.

“We're totally interactive with a few artifacts so you'll come in and there will be dynamic things to do for kids, for adults, for school groups for all audiences,” says museum executive director Tony Zodrow. The museum won't open until 2011. Officials say it will bring five million dollars a year in economic impact to our area.