When the renovations are finished by next year, the museum, now in the basement of the SPJST headquarters at 520 N. Main, will move to 515 N. Third St., a more visible and accessible corner on the edge of the Temple Historic Neighborhood and Historic Commercial District.
The charming Spanish-style art-deco shopping center at North Third and West French will be taking on a decidedly Czech flair by next year.
The fund drive is an important first step in revitalizing the area and boosting tourism to North Temple. Museum supporters want the museum to become a cultural linchpin for anyone with Czech Texas roots.
Czech immigrants, seeking to escape political and religious oppression and military conscription in the Austrian Empire, were lured to Texas beginning in the 1850s.
They found fertile, relatively inexpensive farmland in Central Texas, and encouraged other families to migrate. By the early 1900s, more than 250 Czech communities had sprung up along the Blackland Prairie. Texas Czechs survived the harsh frontier by cherishing their close-knit families, tied by mutual cooperation, and by maintaining self-sufficient and economical farms.
Tanya Mikeska of Architectural Edge was hired in January to begin designing the renovations, which she said should take an estimated 14 to 16 months to complete. Despite its age, the building itself has “definitely good bones” with ornate tile façade, steel beams, arched windows and cinderblock walls overlaid with brick, Ms. Mikeska said.
“It’s really in great shape, although some places in thr floor and tile need to be replaced,” she said. “The building is not registered as a historic landmark, but our intent is to bring it back to its original design as much as possible.”
Built by Herbert B. Mason, M.D., in 1931, the shopping center throughout its nearly 80-year history has had many identities - pharmacy, grocery, dress boutique, restaurant, coffee house, antique store, beauty shop, among others. Eventually it will house all things Czech - the museum, archives, video and conference room, genealogy library and kolache shop.
To that, add the more than 30,000 artifacts and books. That’s a lot to pack into the building’s 8,400 square feet, but Ms. Mikeska is certain it will work. Reaching this point has taken decades of work on the part of the SPJST, a fraternal, cultural and insurance organization headquartered in Temple.
For SPJST president Brian Vanicek, preserving history and heritage is good business. The organization’s strength comes from a deep appreciation of family, heritage and culture. “One of the guiding tenets of our society was to promote an appreciation of that culture,” he said. “It also provided protection - insurance and financial support - but it was also became a social outlet and an opportunity to assimilate into the greater culture. We’re now seven generations removed from those early founders, but still a large part of our population still reflects those early Czech founders. That continuity has stayed with SPJST, and that’s one of our strengths.”
Begun in 1897, SPJST provides social, cultural and financial support to Texans of Czech heritage. Originally chartered as the Slovanska Podporujici Jednota Statu Texas (Slavonic Benevolent Order of the State of Texas), the SPJST offers insurance, annuity and mortgage loans to its members. Members “own and control” the Society. They democratically elect a 12-member board, called the Supreme Lodge. Its 120 lodges throughout the state also provide scholarships, family-oriented activities, community service projects and an active youth program to an estimated 40,000 members.
The musem operated under SPJST’s umbrella until 2000, when it spun off into a separate not-for-profit corporation.
To jumpstart the museum in 2000, retiring district director Louis Hanus of Houston and his wife, Oleta, surprised everyone by presenting a $100,000 check, in memory of his parents. Their gift gave the fledgling group the seed money to buy the Mason building in 2003. Then, Mr. and Mrs. Hanus, since deceased, bequeathed an additional $200,000. The renovated and refurbished museum building will be named in their honor.
Adding impetus to the drive was a separate $200,000 matching foundation grant. Over the following two years, a total of $650,000 poured in. Other grants, such as from the E. Rhodes and Leona Carpenter Foundation, helped.
“The people who really came through were Czechs themselves,” said Sandi Wicker, executive director since 2006. Donations came from throughout Texas. In the closing months of 2007, when it seemed the fund drive would fall short of its goal, the Texas Czech Genealogical Society garnered more than $19,000 by early December by appealing to persons who shared a common heritage and deep appreciation for their Texas immigrant roots.
While Ms. Mikeska works on architectural plans and renovations, Ms. Wicker is compiling inventories and databases of the massive collection with the help of two other employees. Volunteers from the Texas Czech Genealogical Society are helping to catalogue and database the family history collection, the state’s largest.
The work is far from over. “We really need to make the museum a high-level, professional organization,” said Jerry Milan of Fort Worth, museum board president. “I’ve always called the museum a ‘hidden jewel’ in the basement.”
Milan, owner of a Fort Worth art gallery, sponsored a Fort Worth golf tournament and other fund-raisers throughout the state. “We’re really going to help the city of Temple,” he added. “Our new location and better visibility will help us be a better partner with the city.”
To him, the museum’s story is a “roots story” that visitors from all backgrounds can appreciate. The museum chronicles the triumphs and hardships these Czech immigrants experienced as they attempted to re-establish their lives and assimilate. “I’ve always felt it was a shame that the items that tell our history and culture were just thrown out,” Milan added. “People weren’t able to hear the stories and learn about what actually went on in the early days. The contribution they made to their communities is outstanding.”
Sidebar on exhibits:
The Czech Heritage Museum and Library is chockablock with glimpses into Texas Czech life. Artifacts and displays were created by donors and lovers of Czech Texas history. “Everything has been donated by families themselves,” said Brian Vanicek, SPJST president. “That’s the strength of the exhibit.”
Guided tours can be arranged by calling (254) 773-1575. Here are a few of the museum’s offerings:
A replica of the medical office of John Jaroslav Shiller, M.D., illustrates typical early 19th century rural medicine - complete with bills for $2 house calls and $10 for delivering babies. Children have a wide-eyed fascination with his white metal and glass cabinet and medical instruments, primitive by today’s standards. Nearby is a well-worn edition of Gray’s Anatomy. The son of Czech immigrants, Dr. Shiller in 1979 established the Shiller Endowment at his alma mater, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. So far, 48 medical students and 55 undergraduates have received financial support through his generosity.
Among the highlights is an exhibit of musical instruments, bands and dance paraphernalia. Music linked the Czech way of life in profound ways once they arrived in Texas. Polka dances and bands abounded throughout Central Texas. On display is a cacophony of instruments, including a Sears & Roebuck organ, purchased by the original owner for $28.45.
A log cabin replica of the first Czech home built in Texas in 1854 represents the primitive conditions immigrants withstood.
Robert Stavinoha of Temple donated the “magic gambler,” a mechanical device used in the 1880s to determine who would pay the beer tab.
Among the focal points of the exhibits are stories and artifacts of Czech Texans’ patriotism and military service.
For example, Dominik Naplava immigrated to Texas from Czechoslovakia in 1914, bringing with him love of home and country. Like so many young men of his generation, he was caught up in the patriotic fervor as conflicts arose leading up to World War I. He first tried to enlist in the U.S. Army, but since he was not a naturalized citizen, he was ineligible to join. He enlisted in the Canadian Army and was killed in combat the next year, becoming the first Texan to die in World War I.
Czech families prided themselves on their neat, organized homes. The Czech Heritage Museum features a typical Czech kitchen, complete with cookware, homespun linens and furnishings.
Amos Chernosky, M.D., early King’s Daughters Hospital physician, was an Army physician during World War I. His musket, gas mask and instruments are on exhibit. Dr. Chernosky collected many artifacts representing his Czech heritage and donated them to the museum.
The Friendship Quilt symbolizes craftsmanship, family and teamwork. A total of 528 Christian Sisters of the Ocker Brethren Church sewed their names on squares of the quilt.
Sidebar on historical background:
The Czech Heritage Museum began in 1963 as a library in a former West ice house. Someone donated $10 for shelves, of which $9 was used to hire a carpenter. By 1968, the Supreme Lodge voted to move the library from West to the SPJST headquarters in Temple.
When the new SPJST building, 520 N. Main, was dedicated in January 1971, the library and artifacts had grown considerably. Historical displays were set up. Finally in 1979, the historical exhibits were moved to the building’s basement, which offered more display space. Otto Hanus and Dorothy Pechal were among the early employees who oversaw the exhibits and provided tours and resources. More artifacts and library books poured in.
By 1996, the Supreme Lodge agreed that the library, archives and archives should be improved and expanded so that thr collection would continue to be “alive, dynamic, and creative - even visionary.”
Supreme Lodge Vice President Leonard Mikeska urged members to commit to “maximizing our growth potential - which is considerable.”
The museum reorganized as a separate tax-exempt corporation in 2000. Formerly called the SPJST Library, Archives and Museum, it was renamed the Czech Heritage Museum and Library.
