And now a group is forming to help preserve some of that history.
On Tuesday night, a small group came together to begin putting together the framework of the South Logan Historical Society.
“We have a lot of interest in it,” said Donna Blake, a former Adairville city council member, who is one of the driving forces behind the new group. “We’re going to be meeting again on March 3. At that meeting we hope to have our articles of incorporation done and our constitution and bylaws ready to approve.”
The Adairville/South Logan Chamber of Commerce will be working closely with the historical society – especially in the early stages for the group.
The historical society already has some good plans spelled out.
The group has already secured a spot on the Adairville town square to serve as the headquarters – and a site for a future South Logan museum.
The building is owned by Adairville businessman Walter Ray Clinard, who has agreed to let the historical society ues it free of charge.
“He’s been wonderful,” Blake said. “We’re going to have a contract drawn up with him, to protect both parties.
The old theater building on the square will serve as the society’s base of operations – once a few repairs are made.
The first order of business will be to fix the theater’s leaky roof, which was damaged from high winds.
“With the exception of the roof, it’s a very sound building,” said Chamber of Commerce president Dick Dickerson. “The significance of it being the old theater in Adairville is very nice. There’s a lot of history there.”
Once the roof is taken care of, the historical society would like to see the third floor turned into an efficiency apartment, which could be used by an eventual museum curator.
The second-floor mezzanine of the theater would be used for housing exhibits and the ground floor would have a multitude of uses once it is fixed up.
The ground floor will have a stage that could be used for theatrical productions – or for the evening events during the annual Strawberry Festival in the case of bad weather.
“During the Strawberry Festival if it rains, there is no place to go right now … this will solve all those problems,” Dickerson said.
The outside of the theater will also get a facelift.
“We want to get the facade fixed up too,” Blake said. “Nanette King has pictures of how it used to look and we want to get it back to the way it was then.”
The historical society will begin taking donations to the museum right away. Until the building is completed, museum items will be housed in the Chamber of Commerce office.
“We’re losing our older generation, so we want to ask people to start sending in items of significance,” Dickerson said. “We’re afraid their historic treasure troves will be lost.”
Blake said that the society will have a collection policy in place that will outline what will happen to the donated items if the museum is no longer needs them.
Blake also said that she is in the process of compiling a strawberry cookbook, which will be used to help raise funds for the society. If anyone wishes to donate a recipe for the book, they can do so at the Adairville/South Logan Chamber of Commerce.
She hopes to have the book for sale during the annual Strawberry Festival, which takes place in May.
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