Alex Krach became a journalist to tell stories. His role as Director of the Grover Center continued his love to connect with people.
Now, after seven years at the local museum that chronicles Shelby County history, Krach is ready for a new chapter in his own story. He has been hired as the Program Coordinator at Historic Saranac Lake in upper New York.
His last day at the Grover Center is Sept. 16.
“Part of it was getting back closer to family members,” said Krach of taking the new role. “The other part of it was the part of my job I’ve always loved here at Grover, the interaction with the public. It is probably the most life-giving thing that I really invest my time and energy into whether it be exhibition designs, lectures, programs, events or tours. Those are the things that I’ve always enjoyed the most. This opportunity is specifically looking at that type of interactions.”
In a two-week span in mid-September, Krach will leave the Grover Center for the final time, marry Natalie Gearhart eight days later and then pack up for the long drive to Saranac Lake, New York, where he will start work at a museum housed in the former Saranac Laboratory, created in 1894 by Dr. Edward Trudeau to study tuberculosis, from which he suffered.
Saranac Lake, located eight miles from Lake Placid, New York – site of the 1980 Winter Olympics – is located in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York.
“It’s an interesting community. It’s a really small community. And the idea of community, that interaction with each other and supporting each other seems to really be at the heart of its existence,” said Krach. “There are a number of things they’ve done over the years that really highlights their support of Ma and Pa shops. That is something I think is really interesting in a world that is very fast-paced where you see more development and inroads to Amazons and Walmarts.
“This community has stood on the outside of that. I think that is a really fascinating type of thing that I would love to deconstruct and look at.”
The Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, native came to Shelbyville in 2013 to work for the local newspaper as a staff writer. Three years later, he took over the local museum and made his love of storytelling more visual and visceral as exhibits.
“I’ve always been a person to plunge head first into (the unknown),” he said. “That is why I wanted to be a reporter in the first place because every day it was a different article you were going to be writing. You had no idea what your sources were going to be like as you step into that. You have no idea what the story will be until it is unfolding in front of you and then you have to as quickly as possible interpret the facts that you’ve seen to put it into the paper and get it out to the public.
“I’ve always loved that idea coupled with the fact that I always liked the opportunity to hear people’s stories – people that normally wouldn’t have the opportunity to tell their stories or to articulate their stories in a meaningful way. Those are the things that drew me to the newspaper field in the first place. It was why I wanted to become a reporter. When I stepped into the Grover role, it was a very similar idea. It was just turning your attention into a deeper past.”
Krach’s fiancé is originally from the Pittsburgh area and has been in education for nearly a decade now. She most recently taught at Shelbyville Middle School.
“She is looking into different types of opportunities right now,” said Krach. “She is open to any sort of opportunity that is there. She has been teaching for about 10 years. That is near and dear to her heart and it always will be but she is also in a place that if something else came her way or worth checking out, she would not say no to that opportunity either.”
The couple got engaged in July of 2022 and have had the wedding date locked in for several months now. The job change just makes next month more stressful.
While the current Saranac Lake museum is smaller in building size than the Grover Center, located at 52 W. Broadway, expansion into Trudeau’s former house, which is parallel to the former lab, is underway. The museum is operated by four employees.
“I am really excited to work with the people,” said Krach. “I am a big believer in life-long learning. It’s what I love so much about this job -- the ability to direct your attention and learn about a subject and expand on that subject and then interpret that subject for other people. I will have the opportunity to work along with three other people that have been doing this for awhile and gleaning some of their expertise in the whole thing and learning from them. It’s a really exciting opportunity.”
After 10 years in Shelbyville, Krach knows leaving will not be easy.
“Or course there will always be a learning curve stepping into a new role. I’ve approached these moments with the same type of passion and excitement that I did seven years ago when I first started into this role,” said Krach. “Yeah, there is a little bit of trepidation but I am equally excited about the opportunity to kind of do something similar that I’ve been doing here. I’ve gotten a lot of questions about how I am feeling about the move and it is a bittersweet thing. It really is. I’ve been here almost 10 years in Shelbyville. I’ve made a lot of deep connections with people. I’ve made really great friendships and relationships here.
“I’ve really become the person I am because of my experiences here in Shelbyville. That is a hard thing to see a chapter sort of closing and knowing that there is another one here you haven’t started writing.”
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