As Newburyport declined as a commercial seaport, the Custom House, after closing in 1912, took on several new roles, from a manufacturing site for heels of women’s shoes, to a storage area for junk. When the Newburyport Redevelopment Authority first took control of the building in 1968, it was the home of the Checkoway junk yard, which literally had submarine parts sticking out the windows. Checkoway had bought a surplus Navy submarine and systematically dismantled it (the massive sections caused significant cracks in the marble floor!), selling off its parts. They stored old material and steel and everything else and the roof had a hole in it the size you could put a truck through.
The Newburyport Maritime Society was founded to restore the building to its nineteenth-century appearance. The Custom House Maritime Museum is managed by the Newburyport Maritime Society, Inc. The Society was established in 1968 for the purpose of protecting, preserving, and communicating the maritime heritage of the Merrimack Valley and its role in American history. Since opening as a museum in June of 1975, the Custom House worked to build up its collections, taking donations from local ship-owning families and others with a significant portion of the collection coming from the Historical Society of Old Newbury. A 99-year lease was officially secured from the city in 2001.
Today, the Custom House is an extraordinary maritime museum, an educational center, a research facility, and a meeting place for people seeking a unique venue for professional or social gatherings. It is also one of the official visitor centers for the Essex National Heritage Area. There are future plans for expansion as the Coast Guard has agreed to send some of their exhibits to Newburyport which was the birthplace of the Coast Guard.