LAKE WALES Although her given name was Mary Leigh Reid, everyone knew her as “Mimi” Hardman.
That’s the name of the new Mimi Hardman Collections and Research Center, founded by the Lake Wales History Museum to house its permanent collections and to be open to the public as a research facility.
The dedication is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 23, at the facility, 104 S. Scenic Hwy.
The Mimi Hardman Collections and Research Center is located in the restored 1916 Seaboard Airline Freight Station, one of the buildings in the museum s historic corridor on South Scenic Highway. The museum was once Lake Wales’ Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Depot before being relocated and converted into the museum in 1976 under Hardman s leadership.