 The commission reported that its members had “been forced to the reluctant conclusion that Indiana has the poorest and most inadequate state museum in the United States.”

In 1962 Governor Matthew E. Welsh (1961-1965) approved the resumption of the planning for a new state museum, but with a very different direction.The Indianapolis City Hall at 202 N. Alabama St. had become available in 1961 due to city government offices moving to the new Indianapolis City–County Building.The state and the city worked out an agreement for the museum to use the old building.