McDonald County Historical Society

Today was a great day! (December 17, 2011)

We were sorting through boxes and information today. Jennifer is busy compiling a comprehensive Assession listing of all of the items belonging to the Society. Several of us were working today to sift through items and found two note cards, hand-written, from Pauline Carnell. Pauline was the Society's first President. There were 16 people who attended the first meeting on July 22, 1963. They were Mary Feasel, Mrs. E.V. Girtman, Eula Myers, Rouan Elliff, Mary Laurie, Bill & Marlowe Barclay, Zella Mae Spears, Doris B. Dorothy, Geneva Wellesley, Lucille Largent, Pauline Carnell, Christel Largent, Thelma Carnell, H.O. Stover, and John Wright.   

2011 Christmas Party!

Bring a snack tray and share with all our friends! The party is December 4. We will visit at the Museum (302 Harmon) from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. At 4 p.m. we will tour the old courthouse so all can see the progress made on the restoration effort. What a fun afternoon to kick back, visit, and reminisce.

Work Day: 5 November 2011

What a GREAT workday yesterday! We were so blessed with community service workers! Yesterday marked the first day in our history of the Restoration Project. The first sheet of drywall went up! WHOO HOO!!!!! Don't Miss Our Annual Christmas Party! You'll be able to see the progress!!!!

Work Day: 29 October 2011

We didn't have anyone show up this morning except for Jerry & Virginia and Fred & Raylene, but we did get quite a bit accomplished. We're ready to order in some drywall. Come by next Saturday and join in. We need tons of help to make this work! This is a Community museum so come be a part of the project.

Octoberfest - 2011

You can find us in the Courthouse on the Square on October 8 during Pineville's Octoberfest. We will be there from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Come see us!

Museum Progress Report

Just wanted to post an update so everyone will know... The heating/air is almost installed! This is an enormous step forward toward completing the work. Keep checking back for updates!

October 1st - The heating/air appears to be installed. We now are moving to the electrical. Our electrician is swamped rebuilding his house in Joplin. Keep checking back to locate another electrician.

Jesse James Days - 2011

Elk River Computers saved us once again! They helps cook the chicken for our fund raiser in May.... Then, as we were preparing to have a nightly showing of the original Jesse James movie, advertising for the past three weeks.... the projector would not work. A HUGE THANK YOU to Suzanne and Elk River Computers who not only loaned us the projector, but helped our members set it up, add speakers, etc.  What team work our members accomplished this year! GREAT JOB, and GO TEAM!!!!

UPDATE: July 4

HAPPY FOURTH AMERICA!!!!

Wanted to post an update for those faithful followers of our blog. The Joplin Tornado in May impacted so many of our lives in ways that no one could even imagine. All of our volunteers for the Courthouse Project diverted attention to disaster relief. We can't even begin to name those fellow McDonald Countians who were physically, emotionally, and mentally impacted by the disaster. But.... as we all celebrate our Country's Independance Day and as Joplin continues to rebuild, it is time to re-group and move forward!

We will be holding a meeting at the Museum this Saturday, July 9, at 11:00 a.m. to discuss future plans and to get our project back on track. Watch for future posts with a new set of plans for our Project.

May 21 fundraiser photos

Presentation of the Flag and Color Guard





Max Brown Band



State representatives present historical documents to the McDonald County Historical Society



Cotton candy, ice cream, and kettle corn

Secession re-enactment



May 21 Fund Raising Progress!

Plans for a successful and fun time are made.... The car show is organized, thanks to Katrina.... the Cake Walk is under control, thanks to Virginia.... The secession event is coming together, thanks to Carol.... The food is being organized through joint efforts of everyone, with hot dogs for the kiddos and chicken dinners for all who wants them. We will have John Deere ice cream available for anyone who wants to purchase it, Back to Basics will be making homemade cookies available, and Bev will have Kettle Corn on the square as well.  The Auction is going to be a huge success! Check out the Donations page for a list of monetary donations too! This is the way a community comes together! Pat yourselves on the back.... tell all your friends.... and we'll all see each other Saturday!

May 21: Auction Items

We are collecting Items for the Auction on May 21. It is going to be a LIVE AUCTION!!!! We have tickets to lots of Branson Shows, Some Antiques, Original Art work by local artists' Jean Helm and Doug Hall, Bellsnickels from Linda Linquist-Baldwin, Gift Certificates and Much, MUCH more!!!!!

Work Day - April 30

It was a good day, although not many showed up! Virginia and I (Raylene) have blisters on our hands from working so hard. . . and we won't even talk about poor Fred's and Jerry's backs. The four of us concluded we are too old for this! Sure would welcome some help next Saturday..... Thank you Jen for the sandwiches!

I SEE WE HAVE HAD A LOT OF FOLKS LOOKING AT THE CAR SHOW FLYER!!! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE COME JOIN IN THE FUN! WE'D LOVE TO HAVE YOU BRING YOUR CAR AND SHARE OUR ACTIVITIES. WE'RE WORKING HARD!

May 21: Courthouse Restoration Project Fund Raiser

IF YOU HAVE READ THIS PAGE PREVIOUSLY, PLEASE REVIEW THE TIMES! DUE TO SCHEDULING CONFLICTS WE HAD TO REARRANGE SOME OF THE EVENTS AND WE DON'T WANT YOU TO MISS OUT!!!!

Work Day - Saturday, April 16

Happy Wednesday! Wanted to let everyone know there WILL BE a work day this Saturday. We need all the help we can get. We are completing the finishing touches to get ready to begin the next phase of work. All of the paneling is off and cleaned out of the building. We still have clean up to do  so the electrician and the heating/air guys can move around to get their work done! See you Saturday!

May 21: Car Show

The car show is going to be part of the fantastic day planned for May 21! Not only will there be cars, there will be tractors for folks to view. The Cars will line up and drive in to park at 1:00 p.m. to kick off the festivities!

Ginger Blue Inn is offering a 25% discount for folks who mention this show. This Bed & Breakfast is situated in the beautiful region of the county between Lanagan and Noel, only a few miles from Pineville! Check them out here: http://gingerblueinn.com/  Tell Lynn you found her here!

Fundraiser preparations

HELP!!!! If you are following us here and wonder what you can do because construction is not your thing, volunteer to help us with the preparations for the Fund Raiser in May! THANK YOU TRINA for helping to set up the CAR SHOW! We have a GREAT DAY planned for May 21! Come help us get this Fund Raiser planned.

Work Day April 9

CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS!!!! April 9 we will be piling trash on a trailer, and cleaning! We need all of the help we can get. The electrician will be coming in after this phase and we have to complete the wiring before we can begin the drywall phase. Please, PLEASE, P-U-L-E-E-E-Z schedule in some time, even for a few hours on Saturday to stop by, sweep a little, load a little, or just give a GREAT BIG cheer to the volunteers!

Work Day - April 2

Well, the work day on April 2 turned out to be okay. With Spring arriving we had a beautiful day, but were very low on volunteers. Thank you Dennis, Dean, Fred & Ed! The Chili Jenny sent in for lunch was terrific! If we are to get ready to hang the drywall on schedule, we really need help from everyone to get ready. We have the tear off phase completed. Next Saturday will be time to clean! Then electric..... COME HELP!!!! THERE'S A JOB FOR EVERYONE!

Fund Raiser Meeting - April 1

We are scheduling a meeting on Friday, April 1, to actively kick off fund raising efforts in a serious way. Anyone interested in attending this meeting, we will be at the Museum (by the Post Office) at 10:00 a.m. to get started. Come on in and join us!

Business Expo - 2011

We had a great day at the Expo March 26! The booth space was terrific - in the hall area as people walked into the main room! Dorothy and Virginia were both there by 8:00 a.m. getting set up for the public! Virginia brought along information about the Powell Bridge (you can check out their blog from our links page) while Dorothy prepared the Society's portion. How great it is to have such hard workers for the Society! A couple of memberships were collected, some folks were able to pick up their 2011 calendars, and a lot of publicity was obtained about the Secession event scheduled for May 21! Dorothy was excited to recite all of the facts she has compiled about the Secession while Carol canvassed the public for volunteers to protect our Territory!! Bill Lant was available at the County's booth and I overheard him talking to a few folks about the funder on the May 21 event as well. Our Fund Raiser to save the Old Courthouse is shaping up to be a great success and how exciting to have so much fun celebrating our 50 year anniversary of being the ONLY COUNTY IN THE NATION to ever seceed from their home state! That would be McDonald County. What moxie!

Heating and Air Estimates

Well, we have good news and bad news.... The good news is that Mike's Heating and Air has told us the project to install central heat/air is doable! We were concerned because of the heavy brick walls and our desire to leave the rooms as original as possible. The bad news is the cost. It will run us somewhere in the area of $15 to $20 thousand..... Boy, do we need some donations!

Work Day - March 26

Well, I forgot to post again about the work day! It was a great day though! We have sparked the interest of several young people. Woo hooo!!!! Thank you Brent! We enjoy having you, and it will be a great story to tell your grandchildren some day. There are only bits and peices of the paneling left around those hard to get to areas. All of the false ceilings are down. It sure looks different. We will be working again next week.... cleaning up and getting ready for the heating and air to be installed.

Secession Presentation - Sunday, March 20

COME JOIN US, 2:00 P.M., AT THE "NEW" COURTHOUSE TO LEARN ABOUT THE FACTS OF THE SECESSION EVENT FROM 1961! MORE DETAILS WILL BE REVEALED BY DOROTHY, AND A SPECIAL GUEST WILL READ HER PARENTS' ACCOUNT OF THE PERIOD WHEN HER FATHER WAS THE LEADER OF THE TERRITORIAL MILITIA

Questions to Ponder ????

Did you ever wonder how folks got to the second floor of the courthouse in 1875? There is no trace of the stairway. We have uncovered the original headers around the door.

Did you ever wonder why there is a cut place in the flooring of the old courtroom all the way across? Some speculate to install electric while others propose the original railing was there. Hmmm.... Come give us your opinion.

When do you think those beautiful hardwood beams were placed in the majestic courtroom, only to have been hidden at a later date by a lowered false ceiling? Hmmm. Some might believe it was during the 1870s, but then how would that "green" paint get underneath the ceiling that we know was in the courthouse in 1938. Just curious....

Wonder why a ceiling fan would have been hung with electrical wire? Well.... so do we! Hmmmm.

It's really fun working with young folks... The story of the civil war and Jesse James was relived over lunch break. Do you ever think about how important it is to preserve our county heritage? Well.... I, for one, think about it often and was reminded how important this is today! -- raylene

If you have a "Do you wonder?" comment, please post it here so others can see it, ponder a while, and smile.

Work Day - March 19

Getting this post in early.... before I forget. We will be having another work day on Saturday, March 19. Some of our folks are going to be out of town, so anyone that can, please come help. We are doing some clean up, and getting ready to have the drywall delivered. Hope to see you all there! Think we'll have sandwiches and chips for this day. Come enjoy lunch with us!

Work Day - May 12 - Asbestos Checked!

Looks like I slipped again! Didn't get a message sent to announce the work day. Sure glad you all are getting used to us working every Saturday! We had a great turn out! Jenny sent pizza for all the volunteers. We had 10 folks work the entire day and 4 pop in for a few hours! Whew, what a great day! - Also, for all of those concerned folks who have called me, please rest assured we have no asbestos! Bob Hamilton is AHERA Certified. He showed up and ruled out any asbestos. Of course, we already knew we were safe, but it's a great idea to have that label behind the name just to cover the bases. So now everyone can rest easy and come on over to see the progress! We are moving right along with the tear off phase. It's amazing how much bigger the rooms appear without dark paneling on them. By the way, was anyone around in 1900 to tell us how folks got to the second floor of the courthouse? We thought we might uncover some stairs or something, but no such luck.

Meeting - March 20

Dorothy Beauchamp is our speaker for the March 20 meeting. She will be presenting information and artifacts she has collected about the Secession and the compilation of our 2011 calendar! Attending the presentation will be Patty Stephens Buck, the daughter of Jim Stephens. Jim was the Militia leader for the Territory in 1961. Patty will be displaying one of the guns made by the Militia specifically for use during the uprising. Our meeting will be at the "NEW" courthouse at 2:00 p.m. Come join us for the fun!

An Exciting Surprise!

Okay.... the fund raiser is shaping up to be really, REALLY surprising! We have a special event planned.... Keep watching as the story unfolds!

Work Day - 03-05-11

We do have a work day scheduled for Saturday, March 5. We have some sad news though. Richard, one of our devoted workers who has not missed a workday will be unable to attend. We are hoping several strong bodied folks will show up on Saturday! The plan is to finish pulling off paneling in the courtroom. It is glued on and really stuck! The carpet came up nice. The paneling came off the other rooms really quickly. Hope to see you Saturday!

Work Day - 02-26-11

Gracious Me! I got so busy with the Soup Fundraiser that I forgot to post the work day! No wonder folks were asking yesterday about the work day today (because I know you all are checking the blog but too shy to post someting.) Yes, we will be working today. We are ready to pull off the paneling in the courtroom upstairs and take out that false ceiling to let those beautiful wood beams shine through! Both of the upstairs rooms have had the paneling stripped and are ready to lose their false ceilings today too. We have at least two new volunteers arriving that I know of, so come on in if you're not busy!

Exciting, Exciting.... EXCITING!

We have had 27 viewers just this morning! Thanks to ALL OF YOU who are checking in on the progress of the work days! Please use this space to post comments about our progress! It is such an exciting time for everyone interested in this restoration project. Don't miss our Funder this Friday, 11 to 2. And... if you have an auction item to donate or can bring in cookies.... we will be there at 9:30. Please email one of our board to let us know what will be arriving. Have a great week!

Professional Contributions to our Project

Hello All! Just wanted to use this Post to let everyone know the TERRIFIC NEWS!  I've been very busy working on coordinating all of the community resources available. LOWES in Neosho is working with us! I received word from Tom, the Store Manager, this morning! THANK YOU TOM! - Raylene

Fund Raising Progress

This project is going to take everyone! Hope this Chart helps to keep all the viewers updated on progress made! This post will be updated monthly to keep everyone in "the know" about progress!





Surname Funding Project

This is another opportunity created by your Board to raise funds for the Courthouse Restoration Project. What you will receive for your contribution is a space to permanently display your chosen surname. You can provide your family's history and the Society will place your information in a notebook to be shelved alphabetically in the Research Area of the Museum. It is not the intent of the Society to replace any genealogical efforts in the county, but to enhance and expand the portions of the museum that already provides family information. Examples of expansion are the displays on the Centennial Farms or the Veterans. We already have one contribution pledged for this expansion and are anticipating more. Pledge now and begin preparing your family's heritage to begin this wonderful expansion effort of the County's growth.

Adopt A Room Funding Project

Your Board has created a variety of opportunities for you to actively participate in the restoration process of the Old Courthouse. For those of you who can, we have made an option available to adopt a room. When you do so there will be a gold plaque inlaid into the woodwork where all can see upon entering your room. You will be able to design the inscription. We recognize that the dollar amounts are high to adopt a room; but if groups or families join together to help defray the total the project is doable and can be a success! Perhaps two generations may desire to honor their ancestor who settled in the County. The cost divided by several families would be minimal.

Work Day - 02-19-11

I think it's pretty safe to say that Pineville will not be thawed within the next two days what with that 13 inches of snow we just received. So.... We will schedule our next work day on February 19. The temperatures should be up and we can continue with our project. We will need a shop vac or two, and the usual hammers, pry bars, screw drivers, etc. I'm sure we'll come up with something tasty by then for lunch. Anyone brave enough to post a response here to let other viewers know of their plans to attend?

Soup Lunch - February 25, 2011

Hello all of you!
I have sent email to many of you. (If you did not get an email, please contact me and I will put you on our list! raylenelamb@gmail.com) Our first Fund Raiser is going to be a Soup Lunch, in the Old Courthouse, Friday, February 25, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. In addition to the lunch, we will host a Silent Auction! Come check out the treasures available!



Post a Comment Please!

Hey all you silent viewers! I have discovered a button on this blog that tells me how many folks look at it. We have had five viewers within two hours! WHOOO HOOOO! Now..... comment.?! We invite your input! This site is for you!

Professionals to Donate Labor to Courthouse Restoration Project

We have a licensed electrician who has agreed to donate $1500 labor to the project! Frank came in today to provide his opinion as to what would bring the courthouse up to code electrically. He said much of the wiring is already up to code and can be utilized to prevent extra spending. He was given a tour of the current museum and loved our project. Frank is from Joplin but says he has historic ties to the county and is curious to prove his family lore that one of his direct ancestors was a judge here. Thanks to the slow economy business is slow and Frank can begin as soon as the paneling is stripped and some of the dust is cleared.

Fund Raiser - May 21, 2011

The buzz has been going on during this past snowstorm.... It has been decided to have an Auction on Saturday, May 21, 2011. We are going to need A LOT of help to make this fund raiser a success!  PLEASE POST QUESTIONS, WAYS YOU CAN HELP, ANYTHING!  Let's join together to set a goal and let everyone know we are up to something!

Work Day 01-29-11

The Weather Channel tells that this Saturday will be BEAUTIFUL!!!! What a grand day for a work day! Bring ladders, hammers, trash bags, anything you think we can use! See you there at 9:00 a.m. We will be taking photos, have newspapers there, be on the news.... this project is beginning to HUMMMMMM.

Work Day 01-22-11

The workday is shaping up to be a grand one! Looks like we will be having Taco Soup for all the workers. What a warm lunch for a projected cold day. The plan is to pull out the false ceilings in the downstairs rooms where we have been working. Bring a ladder if you have one. Arrangements have been made to have all of the trash hauled out. The local papers and tv stations have been contacted so a story will be published soon. We may even have press there this Saturday!

Please actively follow us!

This is easy. Just scroll to the bottom of the page, on the left side of the screen, and click follow.  Takes only a couple of minutes. It's encouraging when there is a bustle of activity out there letting us know how interested others are about the preservation of our wonderful county. _-_-_-_ After you follow the blog, please, please, please share a comment! Let's stir up some conversation and let others know we're active in this little county.

Work Day 01-15-11

The workday on 01-08-11 was a success!  Items from the second floor were brought to the first floor.  Some of the carpeting was taken up from the upstairs courthouse.  There is a huge mess up there now!  Whew!  Sandwiches were good.  Come help us on Saturday!  We will be pulling paneling, cleaning, moving stuff.  There will be a task for everyone.... We need people to set up lunch, people to organize donation lists, people to get physical with the labor, and people to just come by and be a cheerleader.  There is positively something for everyone.  Please come be a part!

Workday!

I talked with Jennifer this morning.  She is bringing soup and sandwiches to feed everyone on Saturday!  What a great way to work up an appetite.... Happy workday!  See you there.

Bring Tools!

Virginia is bringing her tools to the workday on Saturday!  Forgot to mention that.... We need everyone to bring what they have.... Cleaning supplies... brooms... hammers... etc.  See everyone soon!

January Meeting

The guest speakers for January will be Virginia Hall and Jim Tatum. The meeting is the 3rd Sunday, beginning at 2:00 p.m. The theme is bringing the past into the present.... Virginia will talk about the changes of the Courthouse from its beginning in the 1870s to the present plans to be our museum. Jim will follow with a presentation about the Crowder College annex to be built in the Jane area.

Courthouse Workdays

We will begin the restoration project with a series of workdays beginning January 8th at 10 a.m. We will work until we're tired (probably 3:00 or so). Come join in the fun and the beginning plans for the new Museum!  How exciting.