LAKE WORTH — The Museum of the City of Lake Worth will close as a city department Sept. 30, but will remain open 20 hours a week under the direction of volunteers, city officials said Friday.

Beverly Mustaine, the museum’s curator for nearly 15 years, will leave the museum at the end of September.

Mustaine is the author of the 1999 book On Lake Worth and is the second curator of the seven-room museum that opened in 1982 on the second floor of the City Hall Annex on Lake Avenue. The museum houses thousands of old photographs, journals, history quilts and a special room dedicated to Finnish, Polish and Lithuanian immigrants.

City commissioners extended Mustaine’s contract in January when they agreed to tap $50,000 from the library’s Simpkin Trust fund to pay her salary and keep the museum operating.

Museum supporters including founding curator Helen Greene and Judy Reed, who will retire next month as the city’s Leisure Services manager, have formed a nonprofit corporation to run the museum and have applied with the Internal Revenue Service for nonprofit status.

Lake Worth Historical Museum Inc. will be responsible for operating the museum and raising money to support it. In addition to Greene and Reed, board members include Tom Ramiccio, a former mayor and president of the Greater Lake Worth Chamber of Commerce, and Dennis Dorsey, another former mayor whose family has deep roots in Lake Worth.

Reed said breaking ties from the city might help the museum obtain grants and donations.

“It may be a very good avenue for development,” Reed said. “Once the economy recovers a little, the grants will come back.”

Although the museum’s hours will be curtailed to 20 hours a week, it will continue to be available for group tours by appointment, Reed said.

“I certainly hope we can keep the museum,” said Commissioner Suzanne Mulvehill. “It gives people a sense of belonging by knowing the history of the city. Hopefully it can expand to serve other areas of the community that have been under-recognized.”

Docents needed

The Lake Worth Historical Museum needs volunteers to help run the museum and to serve as docents who will explain its contents to visitors. Volunteer applications are available at the Lake Worth Public Library, 15 N. M St. Anyone interested should attend an organizational meeting set for 10 a.m. Saturday in the meeting room at the City Hall Annex, 414 Lake Ave. For details, call (561) 533-7354.