The Knights of Columbus Museum is a 77,000 square-foot modern facility dedicated to presenting the 118-year history of the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic family service organization that now has 1.6-million members. Founded by Father Michael McGivney in New Haven, CT in 1882, he originated the idea of creating a Catholic organization to protect Irish immigrant families from financial disaster if the breadwinner were to die. Today, the organization has more than $49 billion of life insurance in force for its members.
The Knights opened a museum in New Haven during their 100th anniversary in 1982. It grew over the years and is now housed in this incredible building. The organization’s history is now showcased in a beautiful setting and features galleries and exhibits of fine art, artifacts, and archival material from its founding to the present day. This collection includes a rare book collection on Christopher Columbus and an extensive photo collection. It also contains material on the Catholic Church and secular history in America.
Certain exhibits are on loan from The Vatican which means no other museum in America has these. For example, immediately off the lobby visitors pass under a massive 400-year-old copper cross that was a gift from Pope John Paul II that used to stand on top of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Other items are from art museums in Italy, Austria, and Switzerland.
Some items are from the 16th century, including some very old paintings, and, incredibly, some items in the Columbus exhibit from 1493. This museum is very impressive and is quite a surprise for many visitors since it is in New Haven, CT rather than a major city like New York or Chicago.
The mechanical setup is unique because the building was designed with four quadrants, each requiring both steam and hot water. In each of the four small boiler rooms, there is one Triad Series 900 Steam boiler with a burner firing at 1000 MBH and one Series 900 Hot Water boiler with a burner firing at 900 MBH. All together, the Museum has a total of eight Triad’s in place.
These boilers are extremely compact and rugged, fitting well into the tight boiler rooms. The Knights chose the Triad boilers because of the good experience they had with several larger Triad units that are used in their 23-story headquarters building that were installed a few years prior. The Triads’ modular concept, the reliability of steel, and the fully assembled, “packaged” nature of the boilers has served the facility well.
Due to their modular design these Triad boilers will be very efficient for the owners, especially during the spring and fall where only a minimal number of boilers will be needed.