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Discover Mid-America — January 2005

Weston Museum a bargain for history buffs

Since 1960, the Weston Historical Museum, perched on the edge of a hilly street in the western Missouri former frontier town, has offered free admission. Funded by donations, membership fees and profits from the gift shop and the town’s annual homes tour, the museum remains a labor of love for volunteers who have preserved the old building and the historic treasures it displays.

One such volunteer is Sandra Miller, who started working at the museum in 1998 when she began researching material for the second volume of her two books, Memories of Weston. Since then she has documented and recorded on a computer more than 3,000 items and descriptions of the museum’s artifacts, photographs and documents. Her database contains the history, donor’s name and a complete description of each item. Currently all photos are being scanned and preserved digitally on CD files. Miller said that Ann Sangstead, the current director, has volunteered thousands of hours archiving museum records.

The technology has come a long way since the museum was founded by Bertha Bless, a member of a prominent newspaper publishing family in Weston, and Dr. R.J. Felling, a long-time physician in the area. The building, built in 1900, was originally the First Baptist Church. In 1959, it was deeded to the Weston Historical Museum when the church’s congregation outgrew the site.

The original building to occupy the site was the International Hotel built in 1848 by “Stagecoach King” Ben Holladay, who turned over the property to the church when the hotel burned during the Civil War.

The museum chronicles the town’s history, beginning with the Hopewell culture, which occupied the area from 500 B.C. to 500 A.D. Miller assembled an exhibit of Weston’s black history, including the slavery years. She regards the exhibit as her favorite.

“At one time, more than half of Weston’s population was black,” said Miller. “These folks contributed greatly to the town’s early history.”

Weston, once one of Missouri’s major cities, thrived as a steamboat port, shipping tons of hemp, tobacco and other farm produce downriver to St. Louis and eventually New Orleans.

The town competed with Rocheport for the title of “hemp capital of the world.” Rope was manufactured in Weston by three “rope walks” powered by slave labor. The Weston Royal Brewery was an important player in the town’s development, its dynamo making Weston one of the first towns to have electric street lighting. The demise of steamboats, the ravages of the Civil War, and a flood that diverted the river away from Weston ended the town’s dreams of greatness. But in later years, its restored commercial buildings and residences continue to attract visitors from around the world.

A large painting of Weston, enlarged from an engraving of the original sketched by an itinerant artist in 1850, graces a rear wall at the museum. Another drawing of the town a few years later was presented to the museum by the artist’s 90-year-old grandson, who came to Weston to put a marker on his grandmother’s grave, keeping a promise he had made 75 years earlier.

An 1843 map on the museum’s east wall shows the “American Republic” with Indian Territories and the few towns that existed then. Ironically, Weston had not been incorporated yet and was not listed on the map.

“Everything in the museum has been donated by people who either lived here or currently live here,” Miller said.

She said the next major project would be renovating the basement exhibits.

The museum is closed during January and February. When it opens in March, hours will be 1-4 p.m. on weekdays other than Mondays and holidays, and 1:30-5 p.m. on Sundays.

Discover Mid-America founder and Senior Contributing Editor Ken Weyand files regular reports on notable Midwest destinations. He can be reached at kweyand@gbronline.com.

> Traveling with Ken Archive — past columns