Structural work will start to create the Corby Heritage Centre in the Old Village's oldest building in January.
It is expected that the exhibits will be brought in by May, and it could open to the public soon afterwards.
The centre – housed in
the oldest remaining house in the village which was built in 1609 – will celebrate the town's history dating back to the Bronze Age.
It will be filled with artefacts from the village's past, long before it became a flourishing town, including maps, paintings, banners, photographs and records of local importance.
Work on the centre has been delayed for four years because of the rising cost of the redevelopment.
A Corby Council spokesman said: "We are currently in the process of appointing a contractor for the work at the Heritage Centre.
"We are looking to start work in January 2010, which will take around 19 weeks to complete and after which we will be installing exhibitions."
The first evidence of Corby being a permanent settlement was when the Danish invaders arrived in the 8th century and named the town after their leader Kori. It became Kori's-by and eventually, by the time the Domesday Book was produced in 1089, it had become Corbei.
Corby's Pole Fair history will be featured, along with the 18th century cottage weaving industry and its steelmaking past.
Jennie Dixon-Nugent of the Corby Historical Society, which has campaigned for years for the centre to open, said: "The exhibits at East Carlton Park's Heritage Centre are great but they are out of town and not so easy for everyone to get to. This will be accessible for everyone in the town."
The museum will be open to schools and will give children a chance to find out about the origins of the village and how it developed into a sprawling town.
John Dalglish, 54, of the Exeter Estate, said: "A lot of people know absolutely nothing about the town before the steelworks opened and most just think this is a town that grew up after the war.
"It will be great for them to discover what happened here before that."
