Ark Valley News - Grad students tell Valley’s story

Teacher Dee Harris works with students Emily Loy and Chris Marceau on the layout of historic photographs at the Valley Center museum May 13. The museum will have an open house from 6 to 10 p.m. May 20 to unveil the “Black Gold" exhibit.

Grad students tell Valley’s story
By Chris Strunk
Last Updated: May 16, 2019

They called it Black Gold.

The first oil well drilled near Valley Center in 1928 touched off a chain of events that shaped the city into what it is today.

A small group of graduate students from Wichita State University want to tell you about it.

As part of their museum administration class at WSU, Dee Starkey, Emily Loy, Chris Marceau and Josh Mackey, led by their teacher and Valley Center native Dee (Toews) Harris, have curated "Black Gold: The Oil Boom in Valley Center" at the Valley Center Historical Museum.

They were in Valley Center this week hanging pictures, arranging artifacts and setting up graphics to tell the story of Valley Center's oil heritage.

"I had no idea how Valley Center came to be and what made it grow," said Marceau, who is working toward his master's degree in public history.

Al Hobson, treasurer for the historical society, said the display will be featured in a free grand opening from 6 to 10 p.m. May 20. The historical society plans to keep the collection in place for a long time, he said.

"It's awesome," Hobson said. "… This, hopefully, will draw some traffic and some interest. This is a tremendous amount of history."

When Harris began planning for her class' final project, she reached out to local historical society officials to discuss possibilities. The group brainstormed some ideas, and Harris landed on oil.

Her students were tasked with researching a variety of themes surrounding the rise of the oil industry in Valley Center, track down pictures and artifacts and begin writing a script to tell the story.

The historical society already had a number of photographs and artifacts, including a scaled diorama of a working oil rig, but nothing was presented in a cohesive fashion for the public.

Students began putting together the exhibit on May 13.

"It was a surprise to find out how significant oil was to Valley Center," said Loy, who is working toward a museum studies graduate certificate.

Loy said the first well, the so-called Wright well, was named after a woman and was drilled in the south part of Valley Center near Meridian.

The exhibit has four distinct areas — the beginning of the oil boom, life in the oil field, oil rigs and equipment and today's oil field.

For Harris, the project is a win-win proposition. Her students learn, from beginning to end, how to crate an exhibit, and her hometown's historical museum benefits from the work.

"Absolutely, it's a win-win," she said.