Pokin Around: In March I called new history museum 'spectacular'; see for yourself Thursday

Steve Pokin
News-Leader

The new-and-improved History Museum on the Square opens this week after five years of planning and an investment of over $12 million.

When you enter, you are greeted by a three-quarter scale Frisco Railway steam engine hovering overhead.

The train leaves the depot this week. Doors open to the public at 9 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 8.

The train looks real, but it's not. Otherwise, it would be too heavy to be "overhead."

I toured the new museum in March and toured it again Tuesday.

In March, I wrote it was going to be "spectacular." And it is.

A three-quarter scale Frisco Railway steam engine looms above the lobby at the History Museum at the Square. The museum is located at 154 Park Central Square and will have its grand opening on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2019.

Don't call it a "reopening," says John Sellars, executive director. It's a "grand opening," because this new museum is nothing like the old one, which is also on the square.

The two renovated buildings that house the new museum total 18,360 square feet. The old space had 1,800 square feet and will used for special occasions; the auditorium will continue to be rented for community events and concerts.

The three-story structure closest to Boonville Avenue is the 104-year-old former Barth's building. The museum includes the neighboring building to the east, which is two stories.

The new facility is wonderfully divided into discrete spaces.

In part, that's because although the two structures are connected internally, the floor levels are not level. There's a gap of 18 inches between the second floor of one building and the second floor of its neighbor.

As a result, although there are only three stories, the elevator has five stops.

"We're thrilled to bring the city of Springfield this magnificent, permanent space that tells the story of our founders and the struggles, and triumphs, faced by the people who have made our city what it is today," said Mary McQueary, president of the museum's board of directors.

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I asked her Tuesday if the final product is everything she imagined.

"I think so," she said. “I guess I am excited more than anything to share this with the community and bring in the classrooms."

The museum board had hoped to open earlier this year. But that didn't happen.

McQueary joked that people are free to assume that the Aug. 8 opening was planned well in advance to coincide with this weekend's Route 66 Festival, Aug. 9 and 10.

A trolley car that's also a time machine

Much of the museum is interactive. If you want to know more about a building, a person or a Civil War battle, touch a screen. Or watch a video.

The walls are graced with vivid paintings, including one depicting the Shawnee people passing through Springfield in the winter of 1837.

An audio recording plays words from the journal of Lt. B. B. Cannon, who oversaw the uprooting of the native people to move them farther west. The Indian Removal Act was passed in 1830.

A video plays on a buffalo hide.

A different video streams across the exterior of a tepee.

A look down at the Native American exhibit at the History Museum on the Square from the second floor. The museum is located at 154 Park Central Square and will have its grand opening on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2019.

On the floor are animal tracks — deer, elk, beaver, bear. The answer key is nearby.

The early inhabitants of the Springfield area were the Osage, Kickapoo, Delaware (also called Lenapi) and Shawnee tribes.

Only the Osage were here for the long haul. They arrived over 1,000 years ago. The others stayed for decades, not centuries.

The Native Crossroads at the Spring exhibit is one of six permanent galleries.

The others are Trains, Trolleys and Transportation; Pioneers and Founders at the Crossroads; The Civil War in Springfield; Wild Bill Hickok and the American West; and the Birthplace of Route 66.

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In addition, there's a Welcome Center and a gallery for temporary exhibits and special events.

One of the coolest exhibits is a replica trolley car that also serves as a time machine. Trolley cars ran in Springfield from 1890 to 1937.

A picture of Jeff Houghton, host of "The Mystery Hour," decorates the outside of a replica streetcar at the History Museum on the Square. The museum is located at 154 Park Central Square and will have its grand opening on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2019.

Inside the car is a large wheel that can be manipulated to go back in time to any of 42 different video episodes regarding Springfield history.

I watched snippets of a video on the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach run, which passed through Springfield, and one on the history of the Heer's building.

Sellars says the trolley-car exhibit has the capacity for 100 short video stories.

Shootout on the square

On Tuesday's tour, I learned something I missed my first time around.

The namesake of the Hubble Space Telescope is a Marshfield native: Edwin Powell Hubble. He died in 1953 and is regarded as one of the world's most important astronomers.

His grandfather Martin Hubble, it ends up, was a prominent leader in Springfield's early days. Mr. Hubble plays a part in a video depicting early Springfield. Local thespians, including Sellars, have starring roles.

At this point, I will take a Hubble-like astronomical leap over other interesting exhibits and land solidly on the third floor.

“Springfield has two things to draw people from around the world," said Krista Adams, the museum's director of development. "It’s the birthplace of Route 66, and it’s the site of the first Western shootout,"

On July 21, 1865, James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok shot and killed Davis Tutt in a duel on the downtown Springfield Square.

An exhibit on Wild Bill Hickok and the American West can be seen at the History Museum on the Square. The museum is located at 154 Park Central Square and will have its grand opening on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2019.

Museum windows look down on the very same square. A diagram plaque on a wall near the windows shows where the two men stood long before there was a Tumbler or a fountain.

According to a video, Tutt fired first and missed. Hickok didn't.

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He shot Tutt in or near the heart and Tutt stumbled to the nearby courthouse stairs and died.

In what I expected would be a highlight, I stepped into a circular exhibit to test my lethal marksmanship.

Visitors to the History Museum on the Square can test their shooting skills to see if they match up with Wild Bill Hickok's. The museum is located at 154 Park Central Square and will have its grand opening on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2019.

In this exhibit, there are two Navy Colts, the heavy gun used by Hickok. The exhibit simulates the difficulty of hitting a target the size of a man at 75 yards.

I aimed and fired. Nothing. Did Hickok use a silencer? 

"It's not working," Sellars said. Staff would fix it so it's ready on Aug. 8.

The museum also has, of course, a Route 66 exhibit, which includes a 66-foot-long wall. On one side is a map of the legendary Chicago to Los Angeles route; on the other is a timeline of the byway.

The museum has a collection of several restored neon signs from various iconic businesses that once stood at different locations on Route 66.

The sign from Graham's Rib Station was donated by Elaine Graham Estes, the daughter of James and Zelma Graham. James and Zelma opened the iconic diner in 1932. It was located near Route 66, at what is now the southwest corner of Chestnut Expressway and Washington Avenue.

The Birthplace of Route 66 Gallery at the History Museum on the Square offers many colorful exhibits. The museum is located at 154 Park Central Square and will have its grand opening on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2019.

Others include a neon sign from Red's Giant Hamburg, that was once on College Street; the Rail Haven Inn, which is still on North Glenstone Avenue; and Sunset Drive-in Theater, which was once on West Chestnut Expressway.

By the way, a new Red's opened just this week in a different location than the original, which was demolished in May 1997.

Hours and admission

Admission rates for the museum are:

  • $16 adults
  • $13 seniors (65 and older), students with ID (any age), military and families
  • $10 child (age 4-12)
  • Free for age 3 and younger
  • $13 group adult rate with 10 or more attending at once (48 hours notice is required)

Memberships are available at different levels, starting with an individual membership for one person at $40 a year.

The museum is located at 154 Park Central Square and will be open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday.

Visit historymuseumonthesquare.org to learn more.

These are the views of News-Leader columnist Steve Pokin, who has been at the paper seven years, and over his career has covered everything from courts and cops to features and fitness. He can be reached at 836-1253, spokin@gannett.com, on Twitter @stevepokinNL or by mail at 651 N. Boonville, Springfield, MO 65806.