The Black History Museum of Warren County officially opens this Saturday, Feb. 20, with a ceremony at 10 a.m.

The event is fulfillment of a dream for museum curator Wayne Wolford, who recognized as a young child that documenting and remembering historic eras in black history is important. That realization would eventually become a pursuit in his adult life.

“I used to hang around old folks and I’d listen to them talk. Something inside me said, ‘We need somewhere to preserve these stories.’ I started writing them down. I would eventually use a lot of it in my book. This museum is something I’ve wanted for a long time. I was beginning to think it wouldn’t happen. I’m 72 now, but here it is.”

Published in 2013, “Through Wolf’s Eyes” chronicles Warren County’s black history through historical data, memories of local residents, and Wolford’s personal memories. The museum seeks to honor and preserve the black history of Warren County and provide an educational experience to visitors. 

Born in St. Louis, Wolford became a frequent visitor to Warren County in 1958.

“My grandmother wanted to return to her roots, so my grandparents moved back to McMinnville. My mother was not married and I didn’t have brothers or sisters. My mother would let me visit here. I’d go to Bernard School one year and then back to St. Louis for a year.”

Wolford quickly found life in Warren County was a bit different than it was in St. Louis. Unlike the urban setting, the rural one had a predominately white population that was steadfast in its values and beliefs.

“I decided to go to town,” said Wolford, remembering his first incident with racial discrimination. “I was probably 12 years old. I got on a bus and just sat down. I didn’t think anything about it. In St. Louis, we’d do that all the time. We’d take a bus into town, go into a café and buy a hamburger, milkshake or whatever. I got on the bus here and it was just the bus driver and a woman. I sat down.”

When the woman complained, the driver asked Wolford to move to the back of the bus.

“No one was back there, but I was told to go back there. So, OK, respect your elders. I went. When I got home, I asked my grandmother about it. She chuckled and explained it to me. I was 12 years old and had to sit at the back of the bus because of who I am. That was my first experience with anything like that. I wasn’t raised in it. When you’re raised in it, it’s all you know. Because I wasn’t, I could see the differences between life here and life there.”

Businesses were also segregated.

“At Dinty Moore and the Park Grille, you had to go in the back and get your food. You couldn’t go in the front. We could in St. Louis, but things were a little different here. By then, I knew it. The courthouse had the white and colored water fountains. The courthouse bathrooms were also like that.”

Wolford recalls fond memories of sneaking into the Park Theater, which was also segregated.

“We’d have to come in the side of the building because we couldn’t come in the front. We’d have two of the taller guys to pay. They’d stand side-by-side and hand over 25 cents in pennies. As the attendant was counting those pennies, the younger ones would be slipping behind the taller boys and darting upstairs. A whole bunch of us would sneak in. We’d have a ball in the balcony of Park Theater.”

Educational opportunity was greater here.

“My grades were so bad in 11th grade that my mother finally sent me to live with my grandparents. I came from a school with almost 3,000 blacks to a school here one year after integration that only had 600 students. Period. It was a culture shock. It was good because I learned more in the last year than I did the last three years in St. Louis. There, they’ll let you lay your head on a table and sleep or whatever. They didn’t care. Here, it was a different story. They expected you to learn.”

Wolford said he’d like the Black History Museum of Warren County to eventually become a living history and not just visual exhibits.

“What I’d like to do is have audio recordings. As you walk through the museum, you can press a button, activate the recording and listen to someone share their memory. We are looking into a grant for that. I think it will happen.”

The Black History Museum of Warren County is located in the old clinic building on West Main Street, adjacent to First Presbyterian Church. Admission is free. A ceremony and ribbon cutting will be followed by guided tours of the museum.