A dormant Agfa-Gevaert photographic emulsion manufacturing plant in Shoreham, Long Island has become the subject of a preservation campaign that has already raised $1.2m (￡735,000) in donations.

The facility, which has been for sale at $1.65m since Agfa completed the $5m clean-up of waste silver and cadmium produced in the manufacture of photo products in 2009, is also the site of Wardenclyffe - the last known laboratory of iconic Serbian-American scientist Nikola Tesla.

 Agfa's Shoreham site once housed the Wardenclyffe Tower, also known as the Tesla Tower - a 187 foot tower designed amongst other things for wireless power transmission, and although the tower was demolished in 1917, Tesla's laboratory still remains.

For several years, the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe (formerly the Friends of Science East) - a New York-based not-for-profit organisation, has struggled to raise the funds required to secure the site, which they hope to turn into a Tesla Museum.

Thanks to a matching grant from New York State of $850,000, the Tesla Science Center (TSC) set a target of raising that amount to give it the total of $1.7m required to buy the site.

However, following an online fundraising campaign created by Matthew Inman of theoatmeal.com, TSC has received donations totalling $1,163,307 (at the time of writing) - surpassing its target of $850,000.

TSC president Jane Alcorn told PrintWeek that the organisation was now considering how and when to make its offer to Agfa. She added that the funds from New York State are in the form of a Capital Grant reimbursement, meaning "when we buy the site, we'll be eligible to access the funds".

She added that the TSC has estimated it will take "$10m and more to create the completed Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe, complete with all the attractions we hope to provide" although the priority is to secure the Tesla laboratory and begin its restoration.

Asked what exhibits the museum might one day hope to have, Alcorn said: "It is premature to make decisions on the specifics of exhibits, but we know we want to have replicas - working ones, if possible - of many of Tesla’s inventions, and Tesla coils. We also want to have interactive science exhibits, where people can learn with hands-on experiences."

However, she added a full-scale replica of the Tesla Tower would be impossible given the scale of the original. "Given current zoning laws, it would not be likely that we could reconstruct the 187-foot tower," said Alcorn. "However, we would like to have a large-scale model of the tower, and other related exhibits."

Anyone wishing to contribute to the Tesla Museum campaign can donate via the page Inman has created on fundraising website indiegogo.