I'd still like to have a copy of my senior class composite. It used to hang in the high school office with several other classes. There were also many hanging in the hallway. I'm glad they found all those yearbooks as well. I left a message on here a long time ago about the location of them. I used to be a student librarian and I spent hours just thumbing through all the old annuals. I just wish there were yearbooks for more recent years as well. They stopped making them cause people stopped buying them. The last 2 yearbooks I have are 1989 and 1991 and they are both so small----paperbacks at that.
I hope the museum becomes a reality cause thats the only thing we have left!
There are no specific plans or timeline for opening a Holly Grove Museum, as far as I know. It's just something that's been talked about and dreamed about for quite a while, and a few items of historical significance have been "saved" and are currently in safe keeping by the City and Mayor's office. Certainly there are other items that could help tell the history of the town that are in the possession of private citizens, as well. Many people believe the old train depot in the middle of town, now owned by the city, is a perfect location for such a museum. It is my understanding that the depot building was renovated several years ago with the possibility in mind of turning it into a museum.
On July 1-2, 2005, all of the sports trophies from the gymnasium at HG High School (an estimated 100+) were moved to the city-owned HG Depot building for storage and safe keeping. In addition, the four wood & plexiglass wall-mounted display cases have been removed from the gym lobby with the expectation that they can be utilized at the Depot for display purposes in the future. This effort is thanks to J.T. & Melba Richardson, Don Dearing, Justin Clark and his friend, Emily, Jerry Hopper, Don Stewart and George LaFargue.
More good news: several us were allowed to search for additional school memorabilia in the high school building, and we made a wonderful discovery in a storage room off the library: 40 Holly Grove High School yearbooks, dating from 1945 to 1969. These are all in good shape and have been inventoried and will be held at the Depot. We also found a HG PTA scrapbook with entries from 1963-1970, plus a bound volume of the Centennial Edition of The Commercial Appeal dated Jan. 1, 1940.
I haven't had a chance to catalog the trophies, but my dad said most were from recent years ('70s, '80s and to present), with just a few older ones.
Here is a listing of the yearbooks we found (duplicate copies in parentheses): 1945-46 1949 (2) 1950 1951 1952 1953 (2) 1954 (3) 1955 1956 (2) 1957 1958 (4) 1959 (2) 1960 (4) 1961 1962 (2) 1963 (3) 1964 1965 1966 1967 (3) 1968 1969 (2)
Some of the senior class composites (I understand they're mostly recent years) are believed to be in the elementary school (the former black school), which will still be operating for students in grades 1-6 this fall. Regarding the high school building and property, a meeting on July 6 will finalize plans for the Clarendon School Board to deed the property and buildings to the City of Holly Grove.
The City of HG received a special grant in the last year or so for extensive renovation of the HG Depot building for use as a museum and possible library or community center. The building is in excellent shape. So these items are at least a good start on such a museum collection. I believe if plans for the museum do develop, other people in town and about will offer other historic items they personally have collected and saved through the years.
-- Edited by Jane Dearing Dennis at 21:38, 2005-07-06
