New Museum, New Exhibit at Mineral Area College

From left to right: Gary Bunting (World’s Fair collector); Bruce and Melissa Workman (previous owners of one jardiniere); Loyd Ervin (Ervin’s Metalsmiths jardiniere restorationist); Colton Adkisson (history department instructor); Stan Winkler (restorationist); Rodney Wilson (history department coordinator and Gustav Lind researcher); Keith Zoromski (MAC provost); Annette and Gene Fritsche (current owners of both jardinieres). Photo taken by Brandon Scheldt at The MAC Museum on July 17, 2025.

New Museum, New Exhibit at Mineral Area College

With the new academic year at Mineral Area College comes a new space on the second floor of the library set aside as The MAC Museum: College & Community History.

The MAC Museum is where the history of Flat River Junior College / Mineral Area College and the histories of the surrounding communities will be explored and exhibited.

History department coordinator Rodney Wilson will lead the effort, with the assistance of history department instructor Colton Adkisson, with the support of the college provost, Dr. Keith Zoromski.

While the 1,100 square feet of space next year will be remodeled to better serve the needs of a local museum, it is ready now for public attendance -- and it already has an impressive six-month exhibit, running into January 2026.

This exciting special display features two extraordinary bronze jardinieres (planters) that were sculpted in Berlin, Germany, shipped to the United States across the Atlantic, and brought by train to St. Louis for display at the St. Louis Louisiana Purchase Exposition, the magnificent World's Fair of 1904.

Rodney Wilson has done extensive research on the artist, Gustav Lind, on the German exhibits at the World's Fair, and on the seven-month World's Fair itself. He has identified the original intended purpose of the items and uncovered for the first time actual fairground photographs of the two now 122-year-old jardinieres crafted by metal sculptor Lind, displayed in the German Court of Honor exhibit at the Palace of Varied Industries. After finding no available portraits of the artist via extensive Internet searches, Wilson located one in the Art Library of the State Museums in Berlin and hired a Berlin photographer to digitize it and three other images, including two from the World's Fair, all found in a 1905 book on the works of Gustav Lind.

Nearly lost for decades, these jardinieres were recovered from an overgrown lawn area at a farmhouse south of Farmington in 1973 by Denzel and Joann Jennings, who had them fully restored in 1981. After his wife's death, Mr. Jennings sold one of the large planters to James Bruce Workman and Melissa Workman, who nine years later sold it to Gene and Annette Fritsche, of Park Hills. Shortly before Mr. Jennings' death in 2022, because he wanted the jardinieres to be together permanently, Mr. Jennings sold the second planter to Mr. Fritsche.

After displaying them at their antique store in Park Hills, Raggedy Annie's, for over three years, the Fritsches have loaned them to The MAC Museum for the next six months.

With 20 million visitors to the 1904 exposition and the Industry Palace when entering via the main Lindell Boulevard gate among the first buildings on the 1,200-acre Forest Park fairgrounds, potentially millions of Americans living in 1904 set their eyes on these works of art that now are in our new college museum, along with other World's Fair memorabilia.

The entire community is invited to visit our campus and see these beautiful examples of German craftsmanship. The community is also invited to donate FRJC, MAC, and local historical items to the museum. Please contact Rodney Wilson at rwilson@mineralarea.edu for any donations.

The MAC Museum is open every day that the campus is open. Just come inside the library and head to the second floor. An elevator is available.