An effort is underway to build a museum that would preserve Jefferson County’s Black history, including the memory of the old Douglass Cooperative High School that served area Black students during the segregation period.
The school sat on property along South Fourth Street in Festus where Shropshire Park is now located. Plans call for the museum to be built on that park property.
The proposed museum project will be discussed during an upcoming “Uniting Historically Divided Spaces” seminar at the Festus R-6 Performing Arts Center. The free seminar runs from 6-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 16, at the center, which is attached to Festus High School, 501 Westwind Drive, in Festus.
At the seminar, Tim Krysl, a Festus Middle School teacher, will talk about the Douglass school, which operated from 1939 to 1955 and enrolled Black students from Festus, Crystal City, Herculaneum, De Soto, Bonne Terre, Farmington, Potosi, Fredericktown, Ironton, St. Mary’s and Ste. Genevieve, according to information from the Festus R-6 School District.
Krysl said the seminar should attract interest from a broad range of people, but especially those who want to learn about local history.
“I think anyone who’s genuinely concerned about things they don’t know should be interested in the seminar,” he said. “People who live in the Twin Cities who don’t know about Douglass Cooperative High School should be interested.
“It’s for anyone interested in local history – anyone who doesn’t want the local history to disappear.”
He said a lot of Jefferson Countians don’t know about the old Douglass school, and that’s the main reason for the seminar and a new effort to build a museum focused on local Black history. The museum is to be called The Museum of Unity & Hope: Separate and Unequal in the Twin Cities,” at Shropshire Park. The Douglass Alumni Association is spearheading the project.
Krysl said he believes the Festus R-6 School District and the city of Festus handled desegregation better than many parts of the United States after the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka ruling that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.
“I would describe the museum as it’s going to highlight our town of Festus, because the history of Festus is unique in its acceptance of the end of segregation,” he said. “Brown v. the Board of Education forced everyone to change from (“separate but equal”) schooling. Integration went more smoothly in Festus than places like Little Rock (Ark.).”
He said the late Ralph Tynes, former superintendent of Festus schools in the mid-1950s, played a major role in making the transition to integration smoother than those in other places.
“Festus was ahead of the curve,” Krysl said. “I think (Tynes) got things started by bringing a teacher (Willa Haney) over from Douglass to Festus schools (in 1954). She was an African-American teacher. He hired her before the Brown v. the Board of Education decision. That helped the transition.”
The next year, Haney married Adam McCullough, also an educator who became a trailblazing Black coach in Festus schools. Later, he served for years as a Festus City Council member. He died in 2019, and Willa died in 2020.
In a 2018 Leader story about the McCulloughs, Willa said she initially taught one typing class a day to an all-white class at Festus High and taught the rest of the school day at Douglass. In 1955, she became the first Black educator to work full time in a formerly all-white public school in Jefferson County. She taught English then.
Willa also talked about some challenges during integration, like the time she had trouble getting served at a Festus store lunch counter in the 1960s.
Krysl said there could be two more evenings of seminars from 6-7:30 p.m. July 23 and July 30 at the Festus R-6 Performing Arts Center if attendees tell him they want to hear more.
“I’m going to let the audience decide if there will be seminars on the other nights,” Krysl said. “I’ve booked the auditorium for the other nights.”
He said there aren’t a lot of living Douglass Cooperative High School alumni, so it’s important to document their history before they’re all gone.
“There are only eight Douglass alumni alive today,” he said.
Effort to build museum underway
Ron Herrington Jr., president of the Douglass Alumni Association, said many people care deeply about the museum project.
“I think it’s important so the history of Douglass Cooperative High School doesn’t get forgotten,” Herrington said. “We started working on it last year.”
He said Douglass Alumni Association formed a committee of about 20 people to raise funds and build the museum and stressed that the effort has only begun to get off the ground.
A concept sketch for a potential Black history museum in Festus.
“There’s no timeline set,” Herrington said. “We’ll have to fund it. We’re going to apply for grants. We’re seeking donations. We’ll have to go through an architect and determine how much (funding) we’ll need.”
He said the group may hold fundraising events at some point but will seek grants first.
Herrington said organizers hope to have a museum built that resembles Douglass Cooperative High School, but on a smaller scale.
According to a pamphlet from the Douglass Alumni Association, the organization intends for the museum to offer interactive exhibits, oral histories, archival photographs and educational programs highlighting “the everyday struggles and triumphs of Black students, families, educators and community leaders as they advocated for integration.” In addition to information about the school, the museum will present information on Jim Crow laws.
The old Douglass school closed in 1959 and was demolished decades ago, but the Festus R-6 School District owned the property where it once stood and for many years leased it to the city of Festus for $1 a year to use as Shropshire Park. The city donated the property to the Douglass Alumni Association in 2024.
Douglass school had a separate gym at South Mill Street and Harrison Lane in Festus, and it still stands today. The Twin City Christian Academy is housed in the building.
Herrington said at this time his organization intends to keep the property as a public park and his organization plans to make improvements to the facilities.
For more information or to donate to the project, visit The Museum of Unity & Hope: Separate & Unequal in the Twin Cities page on Facebook, send emails to douglasshighmuseumproject@gmail.com or call 314-856-5525 or 636-208-4706.