Perry County museum sets open house for Saturday
PERRYVILLE — The Perry County Historical Museum is hoping the public will help it expand its collection of Perry County-related items during an upcoming Veterans Day celebration.
The Perry County Historical Museum will hold an open house from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday to commemorate Veterans Day. All are welcome to attend. Mike Allison of Morrilton will have a collection of military memorabilia on display for pubic viewing.
“We are asking that residents bring pictures of men and women of Perry County that have served their country in any branch of the military,” said Kathy Rankin, one of seven volunteer board members who oversee the museum. “We will have a scanner available to copy those pictures. We also ask visitors to bring any old pictures pertaining to the history of Perry County.”
Rankin said the museum is seeking military hats for a special display.
“Saturday would be a great time to bring them into the museum,” she said. “We had a wonderful response to our Veterans Day Open House
last year. We hope even more people will attend Saturday’s event.
“I think people need to have an ‘experience’ when they come here. They need to ‘ experience’ something of the past that makes them say, ‘I remember that.’ Then they will go back home and tell others what they have seen here.”
Mary Laurie, also a board member, said they hope to have the museum open for a few days each month beginning in 2013.
“It will be manned by volunteers,” said Laurie, who is in charge of scanning the old photographs.
In addition to Veterans Day, the museum holds special events in the spring during Fourche River Days and in December during the Onthe-Square Christmas Holiday Celebration.
Rankin noted that the recent designation of the Perryville Commercial Historic District, which is the area around the Perry County Courthouse, “should help the museum, too.”
“We want to be a museum for the county,” she said, noting the museum’s mission is “to preserve the history of Perry County for the future generations.”
“We want people to look in their cedar chests and in boxes under their beds and find those things from the past,” she said. “We hope they will donate or loan those items to us for display.”
As the new year approaches, the museum board is seeking photographs and historical information for a display for Black History Month in February.
“We are hoping to find information regarding the old Rosenwald School that was built in the Toad Suck community,” Rankin said. Located on Arkansas 60 near the Perry-Faulkner county line, the white wooden building is in need of repair.
According to information posted on the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas’ website ( www. preservearkansas.org), the Bigelow Rosenwald School in Toad Suck was built in 1926 and was used as a school until 1964 and then as a community center for many years. It is now on the Alliance’s Most Endangered Places list.
“There is a lot of history there,” Rankin said. “We would like to get the word out that we are looking for information on the AfricanAmerican community that settled there and in other places in Perry County.”
The Perry County Historical Museum is at 408 Main St. in Perryville, which is in the former American Legion building constructed in 1935 for less than $5,000. The Civilian Conservation Corps, a federal program to provide jobs for the poor and unemployed nationwide, contributed $2,500 to pay for local workers. All building materials — lumber and stone — came from Perry County. One of the more unique aspects of the building is the lighting fixture made from an airplane engine.
The Arkansas Chapter of the American Legion deeded the building to the Perry County Historical Museum, a private, nonprofit organization, in 2005. The museum remains the central location for the chapter’s documents and collectibles tracing military service dating back to World War I.
For more information on the Perry County Historical Museum, visit the website www.perrycountyhistoricalmuseum.org.