I went to some museums in Poplar Bluff, Missouri today.
The first was in Wheatley School. The Museum itself is not completely done. It was supposed to be open until 2 today but they weren't expecting a lot of visitors. One man, who is an alum, was nice enough to show us around. They were having a meeting of archeologists from St. Louis and Chicago at the school.
Wheatley was built in 1901 as a school for Blacks. It had an addition in 1928. The last high school graduates from Wheatley graduated in 1957. After that until 1968, the school only went to tenth grade. Students who graduated the tenth grade would then have to attend a different school for the last two years, and for most of them that meant going far away from home. The school was used by the district up until 2001. It housed Early Childhood then. Now it has the museum upstairs and the tutoring for students grades k-4 downstairs.
More on the school
http://www.butlercountyhistory.org/popl ... atley.html
http://www.preservationnation.org/about ... lding.html
http://dar.rustcom.net/story/1816013.html
My pictures
Side entrance
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Cafeteria. They were getting ready for an event that night. As we were leaving we could smell food cooking
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I didn't take many pictures of the exhibits inside because I didn't want to be rude. The main theme of the exhibits is Black history and Wheatley history
The front of the building
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From the side
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Next was the Poplar Bluff Museum in the old Mark Twain school
There is currently a Mark Twain Kindergarten, but it is a different building. This school was built in 1910 and closed as a school in 1988. The museum has been there a few years.
This museum is bigger, with exhibits upstairs and downstairs. There are general museum exhibits and Poplar Bluff history exhibits. Exhibits included Girl and Boy Scouts, telephone exhibit, fire department, military, bowling and golf hall of fame. It had a variety of stuff, with special emphasis on Poplar Bluff.
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The front of the school
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Side of the museum
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The next place was the Frisco Depot. It houses a train museum and model trains.
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A little caboose you could walk into. It had living quarters
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This bus had Native American artifacts on loan from SEMO
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The Depot again
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There's another nice train depot in Poplar Bluff. Amtrak uses it and it is currently used as a haunted house this time of year. They're working on restoring it, but money is tight. It's larger than the Frisco Depot and it has beautiful steps.
More on that depot
http://www.greatamericanstations.com/St ... ation_view
I hope you enjoyed my little tour. There's also an Art Museum, which we didn't get to.
The first was in Wheatley School. The Museum itself is not completely done. It was supposed to be open until 2 today but they weren't expecting a lot of visitors. One man, who is an alum, was nice enough to show us around. They were having a meeting of archeologists from St. Louis and Chicago at the school.
Wheatley was built in 1901 as a school for Blacks. It had an addition in 1928. The last high school graduates from Wheatley graduated in 1957. After that until 1968, the school only went to tenth grade. Students who graduated the tenth grade would then have to attend a different school for the last two years, and for most of them that meant going far away from home. The school was used by the district up until 2001. It housed Early Childhood then. Now it has the museum upstairs and the tutoring for students grades k-4 downstairs.
More on the school
http://www.butlercountyhistory.org/popl ... atley.html
http://www.preservationnation.org/about ... lding.html
http://dar.rustcom.net/story/1816013.html
My pictures
Side entrance
Cafeteria. They were getting ready for an event that night. As we were leaving we could smell food cooking
I didn't take many pictures of the exhibits inside because I didn't want to be rude. The main theme of the exhibits is Black history and Wheatley history
The front of the building
From the side
Next was the Poplar Bluff Museum in the old Mark Twain school
There is currently a Mark Twain Kindergarten, but it is a different building. This school was built in 1910 and closed as a school in 1988. The museum has been there a few years.
This museum is bigger, with exhibits upstairs and downstairs. There are general museum exhibits and Poplar Bluff history exhibits. Exhibits included Girl and Boy Scouts, telephone exhibit, fire department, military, bowling and golf hall of fame. It had a variety of stuff, with special emphasis on Poplar Bluff.
The front of the school
Side of the museum
The next place was the Frisco Depot. It houses a train museum and model trains.
A little caboose you could walk into. It had living quarters
This bus had Native American artifacts on loan from SEMO
The Depot again
There's another nice train depot in Poplar Bluff. Amtrak uses it and it is currently used as a haunted house this time of year. They're working on restoring it, but money is tight. It's larger than the Frisco Depot and it has beautiful steps.
More on that depot
http://www.greatamericanstations.com/St ... ation_view
I hope you enjoyed my little tour. There's also an Art Museum, which we didn't get to.