GRAVETTE -- Members of the Gravette historical museum commission gave the program at the Kiwanis Club meeting Friday, Oct. 7. Bob Kelley, museum curator Randi VanNoy, and commission president Steve Mitchael made presentations.
Kelley displayed a business card belonging to Field E. Kindley recently acquired for the museum collection. He estimated its date as 1912 or 1913. It identifies Kindley as a "M.P. OPERATOR," and Kelley said that meant "motion picture operator" since Kindley as a teenager showed movies on a vacant lot at the corner of Main Street and Second Avenue identified on maps of the era as the Air Dome.
Kindley, who distinguished himself as America's fourth-ranked World War I air ace and earned the Distinguished Service Cross, later moved to Coffeyville, Kansas, and owned a movie theater there. This card, acquired on a visit to the Shiloh Museum at Springdale, is evidence, Kelley said, that Kindley's interest in both flying and movies started during his early years in Gravette.
VanNoy told a bit about her work at the museum and how she has helped people find bits of family history through research in the old newspapers on file there. She recently was able to identify an old photo as a scene picturing the Kansas City Southern railroad tracks in Gravette. The photo is now scheduled to appear in a book of railroad history being published soon. VanNoy keeps the museum open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and other times by appointment.
Mitchael gave a brief history of the museum from its conception 30 years ago. A model of the town first started by barber Johnny Varner was the centerpiece of the original collection. First displayed at Gravette's fire station, it was moved to a building down the street when firemen needed the extra bay for their fire trucks.
In 1999 the historic Kindley home was purchased and remodeled with the help of funds from an Arkansas Historic Preservation grant. Since the home is on the National Register of Historic Homes, workers had to comply with strict guidelines during the remodeling. Mitchael said inspectors from the historic preservation group later made the Kindley home their "poster child" because of the excellent restoration job. They said that 90% of grant projects are never completed, and the Kindley home restoration was especially noteworthy because it was finished in a year.
In 2008, museum commission members were able to add on to an old garage on the property and create the current museum annex building. Many of the static exhibits in the Kindley home were moved into the annex and work has continued on furnishing the home with period furnishings with help from the Bella Vista Butterfield Questers, who have assisted in acquiring furniture.
Finally, Mitchael announced that he is working on compiling a number of commission member Louise Evans' stories from her Facebook posts on Gravette history and he encouraged his listeners to continue to promote the museum and support it with their donations.
In club business, president Nancy Jones said that Kiwanis members would be manning the concession stand at the football game Friday night. She announced other upcoming events, including the next Kiwanis meeting Friday, Oct. 21, with Sheriff Shawn Holloway as the speaker, and the annual installation banquet on Tuesday, Oct. 11. She asked members to bring Halloween candy to the Oct. 21 meeting to donate to the hospital for the city's Trunk or Treat on Main Street event.
Westside Eagle Observer/SUSAN HOLLAND
Bob Kelley, Randi VanNoy and Steve Mitchael pose after presenting the program at the Gravette Kiwanis Club meeting Friday morning, Oct. 7. All three are members of the Gravette historical museum commission and each presented information about the museum, its history, collections and programs. VanNoy is curator of the museum and Mitchael is president of the museum commission.
Westside Eagle Observer/SUSAN HOLLAND
Bob Kelley, sheriff of the Gravette Kiwanis Club, speaks to club members at their regular meeting Friday morning, October 5, at the Gravette hospital. Kelley, who is also a member of the Gravette historical museum commission, presented part of the program and told of the recent acquisition of a historic business card belonging to Gravette air ace Field E. Kindley that is estimated to be over 100 years old.