By Lynndi Lockenour
As boxes stacked full of photos, receipts and other historical memorabilia sit untouched, the second floor of the Frenchtown Heritage Museum waits to be discovered. Opening three years ago, the museum offers a collection of photos and memorabilia from the Frenchtown and St. Charles areas. A large portion of the museum’s collection belonged to Richard Vinson who passed away in 1998.
During his time in the area, Vinson filled his home on North Second Street with framed letters, pictures, newspaper clippings, certificates, official documents and other interesting items. The walls of his home were completely covered with this memorabilia, which eventually became the Frenchtown Museum Collection.
Although Vinson had always been interested in history, it was his move to Frenchtown in 1975 that sparked his passion for the history of the area, the architecture, the people and special events. Today the collection is on display at “The Old Firehouse” at 1121 North Second Street. The property was purchased by the Frenchtown Heritage Museum, a non-profit organization, as a permanent home for the massive collection. Though the majority of the collection belonged to Vinson, many items have been added in the past three years.
Because of its location in the old firehouse, the museum has a collection dedicated to the firehouses within the area throughout history. This collection includes documents from 1884 and 1886 stating that certain men were exempt from jury duty and military service because of their firemen status. In the center of the main room is a large fire wagon, which was donated to the museum by Gary Pierce. Built in the 1850’s, he restored the wagon to its original condition.
Manager of the museum, Dorthea Boshears, said her favorite part of the museum is the Pinocchio collection. The connection between Pinocchio and St. Charles comes from a man named Cliff Edwards, who lived in the area from 1914-1918. Edwards eventually moved to California, attempting to make it in the music business, where he became the voice of Jiminy Cricket in the Walt Disney version of Pinocchio. On display at the museum is a ukulele Edwards was famous for playing during his time in St. Charles. He worked for the American Car Company by day, but found joy in playing his ukulele at taverns in the evenings, thus earning him the name “Ukulele Ike.”
Some of the oldest items in the museum are receipts and bills of purchases, which date back to the 1830’s and 1840’s. Other collections include dairy items, jewelers, high school memorabilia and church fans. The American Car Foundry, formerly known as the St. Charles Car Company, is also another of the larger displays at the museum. During WWII the factory was used to make tanks, which were then tested by driving them down Main Street.
Boshears said the majority of visitors to the museum are either senior citizens or children. “The older folks like to come in and reminisce,” she said. “They often will see something that triggers a memory and they’ll spend hours just thinking back to when they were younger.” Boshears said they’ve even had visitors who were able to identify people in photographs. “We had a lady come in the other day who was a prominent family in the area and she named off several people in the photos who were completely unknown to us,” she said.
A garden is located behind the museum, housing an old caboose built in 1928 by the American Car Company. Boshears said there is a lot of work that still needs to be done to the place. “We have so much stuff, but not enough room to display everything,” she said. “We do a little at a time, but it’s hard when you only have four or five people to get much done.”
Those people working on the museum are all volunteers. Diane Everman is working with the museum as a consultant on inventory. “This place has a lot of treasures,” she said. Everman says one very unique thing the museum has is a collection of middle-class African American photos dating from between 1880 and 1920. “We see a lot of work photos from that time period, but virtually no personal photos,” she said, “so these are extremely valuable and very hard to find.”
The Frenchtown Heritage Museum is currently working on fixing up their building. These plans are set to include replacing the façade of the building to its original architecture. Before they can begin though, an inner wall must first be built to protect the memorabilia. Boshears said she hopes she’s around to see the entire thing when it’s finished. Eventually she said they would like to renovate the upstairs as well and open it as an addition to the museum. “We could fill the space with items,” she said, “but it’s just a matter of getting the grant money to do it all.”
Though Boshears said it is frustrating when she receives rejection letters when applying for grants, she still said it’s worth it. “I didn’t appreciate history until I hit the age of 40,” she said, “but now I want to know all I can about this area and where I come from.” The museum is open Wednesday thru Saturday from noon until 3 p.m. or by calling 636-946-8682 for an appointment.
