By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
The Newport History Museum, on the site of the former Southgate Street School, is now a reality, the result of a broad-based collaboration of community interests.
In 1870, the Newport City Council purchased the property for a school for African Americans. Three years later, a frame house was constructed on the site.
The museum project involved collaboration of many partners, including the City of Newport, Northern Kentucky University, Masonic Lodge 120, Prince Hall Chapter and a host of community contributors and sponsors.
The mission of the Newport History Museum is to honor the students and educators who came through the school by engaging with and celebrating the diversity in the community.
Mayor Jerry Peluso said that for the last 20-plus years, the City of Newport has discussed the possibility of having a museum and that through that process, with perseverance and collaboration, it’s finally coming together.
“This building and the Museum will be a work in progress, much more will need to be done and with the community’s help we will get there,” Peluso said. “We need history because it helps us understand change and how the society we live in came to be. We need history because it can tell us what decisions worked in particular situations in the past, and what didn’t.”
Newport was founded by General James Taylor in 1795 and it is one of the oldest cities in the United States.
Peluso said that throughout those 222 years, a lot has happened.
Robert Ingguls, a Southgate Street School alumnus and a member of Masonic Lodge 120. talks about the importance of preserving the historic schoolhouse and Newport’s history (Photos by Mark Hansel).
“Sometimes, things were good, sometimes things could have been better,” Peluso said. “Nevertheless, it’s all part of our history and our story needs to be shared. Part of our history is this historic building, Southgate Street schoolhouse.”
The first section of the schoolhouse was built in 1871 and it was enlarged in 1893. It served as the only school in Campbell County for African-American students through 1955.
The property has been owned and long-maintained by Masonic Lodge 120, Prince Hall Chapter and was offered to the City for use as a museum.
Southgate Street School alumnus and Masonic Lodge 120 member, Robert Ingguls, said he was privileged to have a role in the restoration of the building.
“Being the only Black school that was still standing, we thought we should do something to get this building preserved,” Ingguls said. “It wasn’t easy, we had a lot of disappointments, but by the grace of God we endured and persevered until we reached a certain goal.”
In addition to serving as the Newport History Museum, the building will continue to host meetings for the Masonic Lodge 120 and serve as a community meeting place. It will also serve as a workshop for classes on how to preserve historic building elements, such as windows, tuck pointing and plastering.
Ingguls quoted the phrase, “it takes a village to raise a child,” in describing the preservation effort and identified the schoolhouse as the child. He described Peluso, Scott Clark, the City’s Historic Preservation officer and the Museum Director, the city staff and everyone else who had a hand in the project as members of the village.
“We are truly grateful for them,” Ingguls said. “The village is, as I stated, all of you who have given tireless efforts to make sure we succeeded. The young black children who are coming along will be able to see that there are things that they can do if you persevere and can be successful.”
Mark Neikirk, executive director of the Scripps Howard Center for Civic Engagement at Northern Kentucky University, said NKU’s work on the project started in December of last year.
“Our faculty love projects like this, to take their classes into the community for applied learning opportunities,” Neikirk said. “The students learn the material more deeply, they get more interested in their education and that keeps them around to graduate and there’s research that shows this, that’s why we do this. They accumulate soft skills that employers value, applied learning, critical thinking, teamwork, meeting the demands of a client – in higher ed we call it a high impact practice and you can see why.”
Students from the NKU Public History Program, under the guidance of Professor Brian Hackett, created the museum’s first exhibit and nine classes have participated in the project.
Neikirk said he was inspired by the history of the building and humbled to be there.
“For more than 80 years, the African American community of Newport made a commitment to its children, to the education of its children, even as our nation’s commitment to those children fell short,” Neikirk said. “The parents, the grandparents, the aunts and uncles, the families, the neighbors of Newport’s African-American children, didn’t let discrimination deny those children an education and with that education, a chance at life’s opportunities.”
CRG Residential, the Carmel, Indiana developer of the adjacent Fourth Street School Project has agreed to assist with renovation of the outside of the Southgate Street School property.
As part of the project, Southgate Street will be narrowed, for foot traffic only, from Saratoga Street to Washington Street.
Peluso said growing up on the 600 block of Monmouth Street, he knew a lot of the people who attended school in the building.
“Obviously they were a lot older than I was and unfortunately a lot of them have passed,” Peluso said. “I think it’s safe to say, if they were all here tonight, they would be very proud of what’s going to happen with this building.”
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com