After 11 years of fundraising, lobbying and construction, the Burns-Belfry Methodist Church will be finished and ready for visitors in mid-September.
While the actual construction will be done on June 30, the ceremonial opening will take place in the fall after the museum is able to get an African-American history collection in place.
Jim Pryor, president of the Oxford-Lafayette County Heritage Foundation, said there will be a collection of African-American history on the walls inside of the building along with what he calls a “digital museum.”
“When people come to us with items they want to share, we will videotape them speaking about it which allows (museum visitors) to see it when they want to,” Pryor said. “Eventually we are going to have stories on Indians, whites, everyone, with viewing machines on the walls.”
Cynthia Parham, president of the Oxford Development Association, said that the renovation of the building is an important statement made by the people of Oxford.
“Oxford is the gateway to The University of Mississippi and we are a community that does not just work together, we have community unity,” she said. “There is so much history, so much African-American history.”
The Burns-Belfry Methodist Church was originally built in 1868 as the first church started by freed African-Americans in Lafayette County after the Civil War. It was then replaced by the current brick building in 1910 on the same property, which is the building being restored.
As the congregation grew, the limited space on the property meant the church had no choice but to relocate to a new site on Molly Barr Road.
The old church was owned by author John Grisham and was used as his office before he donated it to the Oxford-Lafayette County Heritage Foundation in 2002. After receiving the donation, they partnered with the Oxford Development Association in a four phase effort to restore the building.
The first phase was completed in 2006 when all of the wall and roof structures were replaced. Since that time, they have been working on phases two and three, which are set to complete the restoration inside and out. The restoration should be complete June 30th. The final phase is in two parts: completing the cultural museum that will go in the building, and completing the museum plan.
Pryor joked they have yet to encounter a problem money cannot fix, and the restoration effort has managed to collect a lot. The church has received two federal government grants, the Hubs Grant and the Save America’s Treasures Grant. There have also been two Mississippi Community Heritage Grants with an additional $300,000-400,000 in city, county and private donations. Compiling the federal, state, city, county and private funds, the restoration effort has raised over $1.2 million.
Along with being a cultural museum, Pryor said that the building will also be home to weddings, wedding receptions, educational events and nonprofit meetings.
Rhondalyn Peairs has been a member of Burns Methodist Church her entire life.
“There are a couple of old families in the church. My parents were teachers in Oxford and have been here since before schools were integrated,” Peairs said, noting that her mother is one of the oldest members of the congregation. “The Redman family has been here three or four generations, including the great-granddaughter of one of the pastors from the old church.”
Peairs went further, saying the building represents not just the Burns church, but also a heritage and legacy for the local African-American community.
“It was our building and a lot of families have memories in the building, a lot of fond memories,” Peairs said. “That’s our building because we made it historic, not the building itself. Had it just been a warehouse or a storage shed over there, it wouldn’t be significant.”
