The Town of Rock Hall accepted the original Rock Hall Museum in October of Year 2000 as a gift from Mrs. Audrey Johnson, widow of the late Robert J. Johnson who founded the museum as a private institution in 1976. The Museum had been closed to the public for more than a year due to water damage and the growing inability of Mrs. Johnson and volunteers to maintain the premises. The Town of Rock Hall formally created the Rock Hall Museum Board as a committee of local government on November 1, 2000 for the purpose of rehabilitating the facility, re-opening it to the public and proving management services thereafter. The original set of Board appointees took office on January 1, 2002. The group consisted of Chairman Bill Danneberg; Vice Chairman Larry McDaniel; Secretary Sally Lewis; Treasurer Mary Guseman; Councilman Bob Willis; Betty Tucker; Carol DeGennaro; Honey Wood; Mary Sue Willis; Bill Betts; Tom McHugh; John Toulson, and Roberta Steele.

This group developed a plan for artifact re-cataloging and storage prior to repairs and improvements to existing premises in two rooms of the Municipal Building at 5585 Main Street. Plans included new climate control infrastructure along with new electrical service, ceiling, walls, windows, doors and carpet and display cases throughout. Physical rehabilitation required more than a year, with a substantial amount of the work completed on a volunteer basis. The Town of Rock Hall underwrote the cost of structural rehabilitation to the premises. The Museum, through donations, grants and approximately $18,000 in existing museum funds, paid for custom enhancements required for security and appropriate exhibit display fixtures.

The Rock Hall Museum reopened on a partial basis in the South Room on May 24, 2003, although a number of months passed before work on the North Room was complete enough to justify opening it to the public. Volunteer activity continues at the Rock Hall Museum, affectionately called "a work in progress."