Boise Working On Black History Museum; Still Needs Donations

Conversion of the old St. Paul Baptist Church into the Idaho Black History Museum has begun with the renovation of eight stained-glass windows.

Artist Cherie Lindley will redo the windows at her downtown studio, as supporters of the museum strive to raise money to move the 1921 structure to Julia Davis Park. The windows will be returned. Lindley will donate about $4,000 in labor.

“It’s a good project,” she said. “It’s something Boise needs.”

The museum board has about half of the $151,000 needed to renovate the building and move it to a site just east of the Idaho State Historical Museum. The goal is to move the church this spring, fix it up and open it to visitors by the fall.

For more than a year, the church has rested on blocks near its old Broadway Avenue location. It is one of the first buildings made by blacks in Idaho and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

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