Marble Hill museum becomes a reality

Big things can -- and do -- come from small places.

One good example is the new Bollinger County Museum of Natural History in Marble Hill, Mo.

This new museum was dedicated last week and will be open on weekends and by appointment.

The core of the museum is formed by dinosaur fossils discovered at the Chronister Dinosaur Site in nearby Glenallen, Mo. In addition, the museum features an exhibit of Bollinger and Stoddard county arrowheads and stone tools collected by Paul Corbin of Advance, Mo. And there is a Civil War display that includes photographs contributed by residents of the Marble Hill area.

The museum is housed on the first floor of the old Will Mayfield College building in Marble Hill. Museum officials claim the new museum is the only natural history museum in Missouri, and they appear to be right. Other museums in the state include exhibits and displays that feature natural history, but none is strictly a natural history museum.

The Marble Hill museum is a labor of love for the many volunteers who have worked for more than two years through the museum organization and the Will Mayfield Heritage Foundation to restore the building's first floor. There are plans to renovate two additional floors for future exhibits.

The dinosaur fossils at the heart of the museum were first discovered by the Chronister family in nearby Glenallen in 1942 when they were digging a well. The clay formations in that area are the only place in the world where fossils of a particular species of duck-billed dinosaur have been found. Experts believe these dinosaurs existed some 65 million years ago.

In 1999, the Missouri Ozark Dinosaur Project was created to systematically excavate the Chronister Dinosaur Site. Additional discoveries there are destined for display at the new museum.

What makes the Bollinger County Museum of Natural History special is the fact that it has been a community venture from the start. It has taken more than $80,000 to bring the project this far, and most of the funding has come from local donations that have included contributed materials.

And then there are the volunteers. These folks have pitched in whenever and however they could to make the museum a reality and now stand ready to give tours. In addition, there are almost 30 volunteer greeters who can help staff the museum.

Marble Hill, a county-seat town with a population of about 2,000, is a good weekend destination from just about anywhere in Southeast Missouri. Now that the museum is open, the pretty town is bound to get many more visitors.

For this, the many people who have given their time and resources are to be commended for seeing the project through.