Bollinger County's fossils in spotlight

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- The Chronister Dinosaur Site near Glenallen, Mo., was discovered in 1942 when the Chronister family found bones while digging a well. Some of the bones discovered are in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Some now are in the Bollinger County Museum of Natural History.

Among them are teeth of hypsibema missouriensis, a species of duck-billed dinosaur that lived in this region 65 million years ago. The Chronister Dinosaur Site is the only location on Earth where remains of that dinosaur species have been found.

The Bollinger County Museum of Natural History will hold its dedication ceremony and open house this weekend. State tourism and economic development VIPs are expected to attend Friday's 2 p.m. dedication ceremony. Eva Dunn, president of the museum, claims Marble Hill, population 2,000, now is home to the only natural history museum in the state.

The museum is a work in progress being developed at the former Will Mayfield College building in the middle of Marble Hill. One of its roles will be to showcase the finds at the dinosaur excavation site. The Missouri Ozark Dinosaur Project was founded in 1999 to excavate the site systematically. It is one of the few active dinosaur excavation sites in the Midwest.

One room on the first floor of the museum is projected to be a lab where specimens from the Glenallen dig will be brought for study.

Dinosaur exhibits at the museum include actual fossils of bones and teeth along with replicas made by dinosaur model-maker Guy Darrough and castings of dinosaur footprints. For the open house, Darrough is bringing a 30-foot replica of a maiasaur, another duck-billed dinosaur that weighed about three tons.

In addition, the museum has an exhibition of Bollinger and Stoddard county arrowheads and stone tools collected by Paul Corbin of Advance, Mo.

The museum also will present a Civil War exhibition that will include many old photographs contributed by community members.

"We have a rich regional history that really hasn't been told," Dunn said.

Only first floor open

Volunteers have been renovating and constructing exhibits on the first floor of the museum for 2 1/2 years. Many contractors have donated materials at cost, Dunn said.

Only the first of the three floors are open. Extensive renovation will be required before the other two floors can be used. Eventually, the former library on the second floor will hold the dinosaur exhibits.

The Will Mayfield Heritage Foundation formed in 2000 to restore the college's former Art and Science Building, which was in disrepair. Besides creating the museum, one of its goals is to preserve the history of the college. The group has put a new roof on the 78-year-old former Baptist college, which for a short period trained most of the teachers in the region.

More than $80,000 has been raised toward the effort.

"The dinosaurs get a lot of the excitement, but the foundation has raised most of the money," said Dunn.

Dunn, who is the county librarian, and her husband, Charles, are among a handful of volunteers who work at the museum almost every day, either conducting tours or pitching in on the renovation. Nearly 30 others are volunteer museum greeters.

The museum will continue to be open on Fridays and Saturdays only and or by appointment after the dedication.

Darrough, who runs the dinosaur project, says the bones were found near Glenallen because huge faults or fissures swallowed and preserved them in blue clay. The slow process of erosion finally brought the bones to the surface like "a little time capsule," Darrough said.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182