Jan. 31, 2002 – Although it's months away from Bastille Day or Father's Day, there was a lot of celebrating in Frenchtown Wednesday night. A long-dreamed-of museum is going to become a reality.
After a wait of nearly four years, lots of planning, lots of patience and a measure of anxiety, the Frenchtown Civic Organization got official approval from the 24th Legislature Wednesday to lease on the old Olive-Bernier Clinic building adjacent to the Joseph Aubain Ballpark in Frenchtown.
The organization has been around since 1958, providing the esprit de corps and, indeed, the soul, of the community. As standard bearers of the French culture on St. Thomas, the group has sponsored a Bastille Day celebration for 40 years. For everyone — of French descent or not, Virgin Islanders, down islanders, continentals, whatever — the pickup saltfish, pates, deviled eggs, ham, cheese and champagne are on the house.
Henry Richardson, Pierre "Pete" Ledee and Louis Greaux, all FTCO officers, and Alan Richardson, the resident artist, sat patiently, quietly all day Wednesday, until the Senate took up their lease agreement at about 5 p.m. Their faces gradually began to register emotion as one senator after another expressed enthusiasm for the museum, to be established in a building the group will rent from the government for $1 a year.
Henry Richardson, the FTCO president, noted that the group's taking over of the structure will mean one less public property for the government to maintain.
Sen. Carlton Dowe introduced the bill. "Look at the history these people have," he said. "They have done so much for Frenchtown and the island. The whole community can benefit from the museum." He added, "With the Crown Bay project, this could be a turn in the road tourists can take to see local creativity."
Sen. Lorraine L. Berry, who is of French descent, said of the FTCO stalwarts: "They have served up tradition for years. Alan's costumes are famous; he can create something out of nothing — You should have seen the apples at New Year's!" For the traditional countdown to midnight on New Year's Eve, the group dropped hundreds of apples from a basket on a brightly decorated pole in the Joseph Aubain Stadium parking lot in tribute to New York City, "The Big Apple."
Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg said, "These are creative gentlemen; we should do something to honor them."
Sen. Norma Pickard-Samuel, who helped with the legislation, lauded the group for its community spirit, Alan Richardson for his creative endeavors, especially a boat he had made for Gov. Turnbull's 1998 campaign which had floated prominently in the harbor.
Wednesday night, once the lease was approved, the group held an impromptu celebration, toasting the future museum in bottled brew. They hadn't planned anything more formal, Henry Richardson said, for fear of jinxing the project.
Plans for a 'nucleus of Frenchtown'
The stone building which will house the museum has a rich history. It was originally constructed as a fire station in 1944, but there was a serious problem. "The fire truck wouldn't fit through the doors," Henry Richardson said, so the station was abandoned.
The Richardsons, a family of 11 boys, grew up right around the corner from the building and have witnessed its various metamorphoses from kindergarten to meeting hall to health center. For years it was the Olive-Bernier Clinic — until its roof was destroyed by Hurricane Marilyn in 1995. Since then, the FTCO has replaced its blue tarpaulin roof each year.
Greaux is burnishing and varnishing the old clinic sign. It will be replaced on the building, Henry Richardson said, along with a new sign announcing whatever the museum will be called. "That's still being decided," he said.
The group's plans aren't modest. They rarely are. "We want to make the area the Emancipation Garden of Frenchtown," Henry Richardson said, outlining an idea for beautifying the entire area around the building and making it "the nucleus of Frenchtown."
"First we will clean the building and get rid of the eyesore that it is now," he said. "We'll restore it to the former historic and architectural design, and then we will collect French artifacts, furniture, musical instruments, anything depicting our culture, from the local French communities.
"We will be putting out a call for people to bring things — but not just yet, until we get the building ready … They will be documented, and we can give them back anytime anyone wants them."
The project, he added, is "going to take a lot of people."
Henry Richardson already has his eye on a couple items: "We'll give a prominent place to Felix Olive's squash he used to play in the Community Band. And Sebastian Greaux's special tambourine, that's got to be here." Olive and Greaux used to be heard regularly in Frenchtown making music spontaneously in pick-up scratch bands at the now-gone Bar Normandie.
Plans call for the museum so have a French West Indian crafts display featuring items "you may never see except on the Internet," Henry Richardson said. The creation of a youth arts and crafts program also is on the group's agenda.
Plans call for the dedication ceremonies to honor Florina Olive and Mercidita Bernier, the building's namesakes.
And when will the doors open? "Well, hopefully on Bastille Day," he said. "We've written to Washington, D.C., to see if we can get the local National Guard band to play."
