A musical history: Lee’s Summit History Museum offers visitors glimpse of rich past

It’s time to go back to history and see some new old stuff.

“After two years of repeated closings due to COVID, it has been refreshing to be back to holding normal hours and welcoming visitors,” said Fred Grogan, board president of the Lee’s Summit History Museum.

Thankfully, Grogan said, museum volunteers have not been idle during the pandemic.

“Our volunteers have used our down time well by creating new exhibits, organizing our collection and preparing for the opening of the W. Ferrell Shuck Journal Room,” Grogan said.

Earlier this month, the museum, located at 220 S.W. Main St., officially named the room that houses local newspaper artifacts to honor Shuck, the publisher of the Lee’s Summit Journal from 1965 to 2000. Shuck, a member of the Missouri Press Hall of Fame, died in 2018 at age 86.

Sue Hart, museum volunteer coordinator and board secretary, said Shuck was a tremendous community asset.

“He not only reported on history but he did a lot to preserve history,” Hart said.

The focal point of the room is decades of bound copies of the newspaper. These editions are used for research by individuals, groups and even the City of Lee’s Summit departments.

“There’s 100 years of journalism there,” Hart said.

The room is open to the public by appointment.

Among the museum’s current rotating exhibits is “Artists and Musicians – Musical Families of Lee’s Summit.” It highlights both the well-known and perhaps less known musicians from Lee’s Summit.

The portion of the exhibit featuring jazz musicians Pat and Mike Metheny includes a cornet owned by their maternal grandfather. It also features a 1982 Grammy for Best Jazz Fusion Performance, presented to the Pat Metheny Group for its “Offramp” album.

The oldest group highlighted in the exhibit is the Browning family.

Hart said Eugene and Margaret Browning, who were both musical, began encouraging their eight children to perform at the back of the family’s hardware and clothing store in Lee’s Summit. It was a way to use the children’s musical talent to help with finances, Hart added.

“They had taught their kids to sing and dance and play all sorts of instruments,” she said. “Their challenge was putting their children through college.”

The Browning Family Show, which was active in the 1960s and 1970s, gained in popularity.

“It progressed to where they were traveling in a bus in the U.S. and Canada,” Hart said. “They played state fairs, reunions and special events.

“They paid for all eight to go to college.”

The musicians exhibit also features images of Matt Lewis, an Elvis impersonator and musician.

“His first performance was in a talent show at Pleasant Lea Middle School when he was 12 years old,” Hart said. A photo from that show is part of the museum display.

“He looks like a very young Elvis.”

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. For more information, go to www.leessummitmuseum.com