Historic society gains artifacts, learns local civil war connections to LU

Michelle Brooks presented the March program for the Moniteau County Historical Society March 12, discussing soldiers from the 62nd U.S. Colored Infantry, founders of Lincoln University, who had ties to the Moniteau County area.
Michelle Brooks presented the March program for the Moniteau County Historical Society March 12, discussing soldiers from the 62nd U.S. Colored Infantry, founders of Lincoln University, who had ties to the Moniteau County area.

Unique donations of Dairy Queen nostalgia and historic gems of the Moniteau County Fair were donated to the Moniteau County Historical Society March 12 by David Wilson.

The premier piece was a sterling silver medallion, #7 of only 100 made in 1966, to commemorate the first 100 years of the fair.

Another artifact is a shell casing fired from the City of California A-10 "warthog" anti-tank plane.

Wilson also donated ice cream cone-shaped plastic whistles from the 1960s and ice cream sundae tokens, both from the former Wilson's Dairy Queen in town.

The most unique items donated were three county fair books from 1883, 1897 and 1903. The latter was discovered by Matt Burger inside the wall of a house he was remodeling on Oak Street.

During the regular meeting, the society discussed:

The chili supper fundraiser 4:30-6:30 p.m. March 24 at the society's meeting room.

The museum will open for the season April 15 and will be open 1-3 p.m. the first and third Sunday each month.

The genealogy library will be open 1-5 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday beginning April 5.

Cemetery flowers, saddles for $40 and various bushes, will be available during library and museum hours.

The March program was provided by Michelle Brooks, highlighting the soldiers of the 62nd U.S. Colored Infantry, founders of Lincoln University, Jefferson City, who had ties to the Moniteau County area.