On October 10, 2007, at an award ceremony at the Missouri Governor's Mansion, the Urich Community Historical Society will receive the 2007 Governor's Humanities Award in Community Heritage from the Missouri Humanities Council. - October 04, 2007
Each year the Governor of Missouri and the Missouri Humanities Council celebrate the accomplishments of people who have made exceptional contributions to our understanding of Missouri, its people, and its stories. The Community Heritage Award recognizes an organization who has made a special contribution to a community’s understanding of its heritage.
Rooted deeply in more than a century of history, Urich, Missouri, is home to a passionate group of people who have labored to preserve their heritage.
As subscribers to the Council’s newsletter, Missouri Passages, they learned of the humanities award program and began compiling a scrapbook. condensing seven years of the Society’s activities, restoration, newsletters, and goals.
Assembling the entry was a “thrilling experience” for the team. They were able to relive the highlights of their progression, from the loose confederation known as the Urich Preservation Committee to their new title as the Urich Community Historical Society, a legal nonprofit organization. Urich’s population is 499 and UCHS has approximately 350 dedicated members that not only live in Urich, but in surrounding communities with some as far away as New York & California.
Their first goal was to establish a museum and reference library. They acquired the original James A. Kerr Drug Store on Main Street , a 116 year old empty building. (Most of the pharmacy is preserved in the Henry County Historical Museum in Clinton and has been reconstructed as a drug store in its Village.)
“We had four walls, a floor that was not safe enough to walk on, and a roof that needed repair,” said Janice Lee Urton, vice-president of the society. “These were humble beginnings, but we had hopes and dreams and set about trying to convince others that these were worthy goals!”
The work progressed and the Urich Museum and Reference Library opened to the public on July 7th, 2007. This rehabbed building now serves as a community center for learning, a “place for people to reflect on the rich history and the culture of Urich and it’s surrounding communities...built by those who came and established this place as their home for a lifetime or a brief season.”
The UCHS also created and maintains a “ Wall of Honor” consisting of photographs and brief histories of area war veterans, dating back to the Civil War. “The Great Encampment of 1894”, is now known, as the Urich Reunion and has been a Urich tradition, for the past 113 years. Many artifacts from that era and past reunions are now a part of the new museum.
“In the historical society, we want to be the facilitator for our community to record their memories. We firmly believe there are no ordinary people,” continued Urton. “We each have been gifted with talents and skills, God-given and to be used to help make this a better world for all of us to live in. We need each other.”
