Interested in Sharing your Story?

“A recorded oral history is more than just a quote on a page in a book. 

It is a meaningful story expressed by the person who owns that story.”

-Doug Boyd, University of Kentucky’s Louis B. Nunn Center for Oral History

The Old Davie School Historical Museum is working to collect the stories of Davie residents in order to better understand our past. We are lucky enough to have the written histories from the families of the early pioneers, but that only tells us part of the story. Every memory is important! Residents for 5, 10, or 20+ years, or maybe you rode horses through Davie before the new construction, or visited the short-lived Pioneer City attraction? We are looking to share the heritage of west Broward County and all contributions are valuable to linking together our past!

By participating in a recorded Oral History Interview, you would contribute to our exhibitions, programming, and most essentially, to broadening our town’s history! In return, we will provide a digital copy and transcript of the interview for you to share with your family--something important to pass on as the holidays are coming up!

Please let us know if you would be interested in sharing your story! Contact Kim Stansell at education@olddavieschool.org or (954)797-1044. 

Note from the Education Assistant -- Kim!

Phew! I have had a busy week at the Florida Association of Museums conference in Ft. Lauderdale. I am very excited to bring back the great information and networking opportunities to the Old Davie School Historical Museum!

We are getting ready to revamp our exhibits and programming and hope to provide a new and exciting experience in the schoolhouse. It’s important to us to offer a museum that has value for the community—historically, culturally and as an active member in the community today. In order for us to meet that challenge, we need to hear from you!

-          Have you visited the Old Davie Schoolhouse before? What was your favorite part of your visit?

-          If you haven’t visited, what activities or events would draw you to the museum?

-          What would you like to see at the museum? More of a specific topic or something entirely new?

Any thoughts or contributions would be very helpful!

We are also getting ready to start collecting oral histories from Davie residents—past or present— in order to better understand our history. To gather these stories, we can schedule a time and date most convenient for you and record your memories on a digital recorder right here at the museum. Your story would contribute to our new exhibitions, programming, and most essentially, to broadening our town’s history! To thank you for your participation, we will also provide a digital copy and transcript of the interview for you to share with your family. We are looking to tell the whole story of Davie and every memory is important! If you’re interested in scheduling an interview, please contact Kim at the Old Davie School Historical Museum by email at education@olddavieschool.org or call (954)797-1044.

If you haven't visited the museum yet, or would like to hear more about our upcoming changes, or are looking for something fun on a Saturday morning, we are having a Flea Market this Saturday, September 14 from 8am to noon! The museum will also be open with FREE ADMISSION during that time, so come take a look around!

We look forward to seeing you around the museum soon!

 

Happy Labor Day from the Old Davie School!

Here's the first Labor Day BBQ at the Davie American Legion in 1955!

Do you recognize anyone? What are your Labor Day plans?

We hope everyone enjoys a safe and relaxing holiday!

Welcome!

“We accept and thank you for this splendid building, a building no matter how large and important this community may grow, will ever be the center of its social action and the main cause of any progress we may make. The citizens of Davie will take pride in it, maintain it, and cherish it”

-        Charles A. Walsh at the commemoration for the Davie School in 1918

            Charles Walsh built his home in the western frontier of South Florida in 1914, in the area known as Zona. In May 1918, he commemorated the first schoolhouse in the newly renamed settlement of Davie. Today, his family home can be found just behind that same building—a schoolhouse that has grown to encompass the history of the town that flourished from the black muck of the Everglades. Eighty years after the school welcomed its first students, the Davie School Foundation successfully rallied to protect the invaluable community building from destruction and additionally preserved two of the earliest residences, relocating them to the campus to avoid the imminent threat of development. The ‘splendid building’ that is now the Old Davie School Historical Museum amplifies and embodies Walsh’s counsel to ‘take pride, maintain, and cherish’

            In the 95 years since its construction, the schoolhouse has functioned as a classroom, town hall, dance hall, a refuge from floods and hurricanes, an architectural triumph (with some of the first indoor plumbing around!), Broward County School Board office space—almost a bus depot—and now a museum. As students fill the hall and classrooms here once again, education remains at the heart of the schoolhouse’s mission. The Old Davie School is not a dusty bookshelf for the facts and figures of history, instead it is a vibrant and dynamic mosaic of the contributions from those before us, present and still to come.  It provides a moment of understanding that while our world continues to change, the values of our community are still very much the same. It is a unique opportunity to identify with our place in history as the school nears its first century and continues finding purpose in our lives.

            This blog will work to illuminate the rich legacy of community in Davie by highlighting the objects and stories contributed to and maintained by the museum. My hope is to encourage conversation, ask questions, and invite new interpretations of our past. So now it’s your turn—how have you experienced the town and the Old Davie School?