Lincolnville Museum in need of donations for major restoration project

2 years ago 262

Former Excelsior gathering was St. Johns County’s archetypal nationalist precocious schoolhouse for Blacks

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - A captious portion of St. Johns County’s Black past is going done a large renovation, but your assistance is needed to marque it afloat happen. The Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center located connected M.L. King Avenue was astatine 1 time, location to the archetypal Black nationalist precocious schoolhouse successful St. Johns County. Today, it is affectionately known arsenic the “Excelsior building” and is conscionable a fewer years shy of its centennial birthday. Executive manager Gayle Phillips archetypal started arsenic a unpaid respective years ago.

“I walked successful this place, and it was conscionable like, ‘wow, this spot needs help, what tin I do?’, Phillips said. “And I recovered myself saying it retired loud. It astir became similar a calling to me.”

A batch has improved nether Phillips’ watch. The depository is filled with exhibits sharing the county’s Black history. It discusses slavery, segregation, the civilian rights movement, and shares the stories of galore noble figures and their accomplishments. But making definite the gathering is astir for different period oregon more, is simply a large priority. The restoration task is already disconnected to a moving start, but the depository needs donations to assistance wage for the afloat project. It includes a caller roof, caller HVAC system, and the replacement of an aging elevator.

But the apical level wherever students gathered for lessons volition beryllium importantly renovation. The includes the afloat restoration of the “Excelsior Room”. It is simply a multi-use country and according to Phillips, the extremity is to bring it backmost to its glory days.

“We privation to re-design the room,” Phillips said. “Bring it backmost to the archetypal splendor of that room.”

Phillips says determination is already a assistance from the National Park Service. But a batch of the things for that assistance were cut, truthful she says the depository has conscionable applied for the Department of State assistance for $1.2 cardinal dollars. Phillips says the depository had to travel up with a $250,000 match, which they were capable to bash done ample sum donations and pledges. Phillips said the depository besides had to get from its day-to-day operations. Even then, it does not see a batch of the instrumentality that volition inactive beryllium needed.

Phillips says the extremity is to person the last preservation task implicit by 2024. That’ll beryllium the 100th day since the archetypal people astatine the precocious school. Phillips says for many, including erstwhile students, preserving the building’s past means the world.

“The information that radical who were 1 procreation retired of slavery insisted connected having a precocious schoolhouse here,” Phillips said. “We spoke with a pistillate not excessively agelong agone who walked each the mode from Elkton disconnected 207. She and her sister walked to St. Augustine to travel to precocious schoolhouse present each day.”

People tin donate successful person, oregon spell to https://www.lincolnvillemuseum.org/