Celebrations have started for the long-awaited Jackie Robinson Museum, which has been simmering at its site at 75 Varick since 2008, when the idea for the museum was first proposed by Rachel Robison, Jackie’s widow. The museum is seeing VIP visitors now and held a ribbon cutting and gala Tuesday night; it is open to the public on Sept. 5. public Thursdays through Sundays starting July 28, from 11a to 6p. Pre-registration is required. Admission is $18 for adults and $15 for seniors, students and children five and older.

The museum will take up the first and second floors on the northwest corner of Canal and Varick, aka One Hudson Square, with a total of 19,000 square feet and 4500 artifacts. Most of the museum will cover the personal history of the ball player, who broke the color barrier when he stepped onto to Ebbets Field as a Brooklyn Dodger in 1947. He played there for nine years, and his record included a .311 batting average, 137 home runs, 734 runs batted in, and 197 stolen bases. In 1955, he helped the Dodgers beat the New York Yankees to win their first World Series Championship.

Robinson took home the Rookie of the Year Award in 1947, the Most Valuable Player Award in 1949, and in 1962 became the first African American inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. But he also was a force for civil rights, and the museum will celebrate that history as well.

The Jackie Robinson Foundation took the lease on Varick and Canal 14 years ago, and I believe has been paying rent ever since. In 2013, The Post claimed the rent was $500,000 a year. Construction was delayed while funds were raised for the museum, and they nearly stalled out in 2017 before resuming. The Times has some details here. (I tried, but was not offered a tour. More when the museum officially opens.)