The Warren County Historical Society and Museum is ready to open its latest display — Prominent People in the History of Warren County. The official opening of the permanent exhibit will be marked …
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A history of prominent people exhibit to open
Posted
By Kate Miller, Record Managing Editor
The Warren County Historical Society and Museum is ready to open its latest display — Prominent People in the History of Warren County.The official opening of the permanent exhibit will be marked with a celebration starting at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 20, at the Warren County History Museum, 102 W. Walton in Warrenton.Punch and cookies will be available while visitors explore the exhibit.Guy Schreck, Warren County Historical Society and Museum board president, said the exhibit features about 60 prominent people who lived in Warren County or had a strong connection to the county.Those individuals are featured on panels hung on walls. They and others are featured in an interactive, touch screen display with biographical information.Frontiersman Daniel Boone is there. So is actor Rand Brooks, who is best known for playing Charles Hamilton in “Gone With the Wind.”An internationally honored citizen, Carl Lutz, is there too. He attended Central Wesleyan College and went on to become a Swiss diplomat who saved 62,000 Jews during World War II.The idea for the exhibit was inspired by the relatives of Sam B. Cook. They wanted to honor him and for him to be remembered.Cook, according to museum researchers, was one of the first Warren County sheriffs and president of the first bank in Warren County.Cook became a political leader in Warren County at the age of 26. In 1878, Cook, a Democrat, was elected sheriff in a Republican county and re-elected in 1880.By the end of his second term, he had organized the Bank of Warren County, the county’s first bank, and he served as bank president until 1885.Cook eventually left Warren County to pursue other interests. Later, in 1905, he became president of the Central Missouri Trust Company in Jefferson City. He remained in that position until his death on Feb. 5, 1931.Cook’s descendants helped fund the exhibit.As planning progressed, the group decided to include other prominent Warren Countians. That was a few years ago.“I’d say we’ve been working on this exhibit for at least three years,” Schreck said. “Most of the volunteers at the museum have several things going on at the same time, as well as a life outside the historical society, so it takes time to get things accomplished at times.”Volunteers searched through museum documents, newspaper articles, obituaries and relied on their own recollections to pull information together.“For the earliest people, we went through all the books that had Warren County history in them and listed most of the names mentioned in them, then tried to find as much information we could find on each of them,” Schreck said.“From there we tried to determine how much of a contribution each person made to society.”In selecting Warren County’s most prominent people, the museum focused on individuals who possessed unique accomplishments and influenced lives within and beyond Warren County.Some of the people featured may have descendants still living in Warren County.“There are probably lots of Boone decedents; Muenchs, Wrights, Hummels, Eichmeyers and I’m sure others,” Schreck said.The prominent people display will be a permanent fixture for the Warren County Historical Society and Museum. The exhibit will change with time, as more “prominent people” are added.“You could say that this exhibit will never be finished,” Schreck said.The Warren County Historical Society and Museum is funded by donations and run by volunteers. The museum is open from 10 to 4 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.For information, to attend an event or to make a donation call 636-456-3820 or email museum@warrencountymohistory.com.
Photo courtesy of Warren County Historical Society.
