The Ethan Allen Homestead Museum and the Burlington Forest Preschool were broken into after hours on Monday. Cash and electronics were stolen, a safe was smashed, and personnel files were ransacked, but the historical exhibits were unharmed, according to the museum’s executive director.
Staff at the preschool, which shares space with the Burlington museum, discovered the break-in at about 8 a.m. Tuesday. It was reported to city police, who responded to investigate Monday morning, according to Angie Grove, the museum’s director.
“We’re very grateful they did not just go and vandalize all of the exhibits,” she said, adding that recovery will be hard for the largely volunteer-run nonprofit organization, which has an annual budget under $150,000.
The nonprofit oversees the Allen House — built in 1787, it was the last home of Vermont Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen — and a museum with exhibits from 18th century America at a public park owned and operated by the Winooski Valley Park District.
About $500 in cash, two laptops and a cell phone were stolen from the museum office and wireless routers were unplugged and taken off walls. Also, personnel files were taken out and rummaged through. That raised concerns about identity theft, Grove said, prompting museum personnel to scramble to cancel bank and credit card accounts on Tuesday.
Grove said staff had just made a cash deposit of earnings from the museum’s busiest weekend for tourism on Monday morning; otherwise the cash loss could have been in the thousands of dollars.
Other damages include the main door being ripped open, the safe torn off the floor it was bolted to, the cash register pried open, and a donation box — a miniature replica of the historic Allen house made by a volunteer — smashed to pieces, according to Grove. No security footage is available, she said, because the culprits also pulled all the wireless routers off the walls and unplugged them. Blood and fingerprints left at the scene were collected by police for further analysis, she said.
Sarah Hernandez Timm, a spokesperson for the Burlington Police Department, said an investigation is in its early stages but declined to share further detail.
The break-in happened via a window in the preschool that was pushed up, breaking the lock, Grove said.
“I think the hardest impact of this is how much personnel time it’s going to take, not just for me but all of the museum volunteers, including our board,” Grove said.
Although the incident caused staff “a bit of panic,” the museum and grounds remain open until Halloween and volunteers are doubling down to clean up the mess and to secure the main door, said Denny Mecham, president of the museum’s board.
“It’s frustrating because really it is an army of volunteers that makes things work here and it’s just very discouraging when something like this happens,” said Mecham.
