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Museum Offers Window Into West History

In the City of West, community members are opening a long-awaited museum that focuses on the history of the town. The idea stretches as far back as 30 years ago, but it wasn’t until 2013 that it gained real momentum when the History of West Museum board and members purchased a location for their Museum. 

Just three weeks after board members purchased the dirt red 119-year-old building as the future site for their museum – the fertilizer plant in West exploded. The blast, which sent shockwaves throughout the town and for miles beyond, shattered the building’s glass and razed its sheet rock. Board president Georgia Hutyra says after that the museum was placed on hold. But strong

"We knew we had to go forward we couldn’t just let it lie, even thought our town lost a terrible loss and terrible destruction. But that’s West. That’s who we are," Hutyra said. "When we go back and look at our ancestors, the problems and the struggles they went through to come here and make a better life for all of us. And we’re decedents of those people -  so we knew we were resilient and we had to go forward, so that’s what we did and here we are.”

The Museum is a winding collection of West history and culture – which is indebted to early settlers from the Czechoslovakia and Germany.  Most of the items in the museum – like an aging wagon, the kind you might find on the Chisholm Trail – were donated from families that have been in the area for generations. 

The museum is a window into the past. Upon entering, visitors walk by an exhibit that re-creates West’s main drag in the late 1800s. The following galleries continue the temporal journey through West’s history, including exhibits on farm life, popular businesses, area sports, military history – and even a memorial to honor those who died during the fertilizer explosion. Hannah Uptmore is a local volunteer who helped remodel the building. She says these exhibits – and the museum in general - are important because they offer the close-knit community of West an idea of their heritage, and – more importantly – they help maintain it.

“I think most people, they know their heritage but not how far it extends to," Uptomore said. "So I think having this here in town where they can come to it at any point it’ll help them realize just how far back their ancestry goes.”

The Museum is free and open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursdays through Saturdays.