Join us on May 23 to celebrate CoMo Preservation’s first anniversary with a gala featuring cake and wine!

At the meeting, Dr. Clyde Ruffin will talk about the J.W. Blind Boone House, a National Register of Historic Places building, at CoMo Preservation’s first-anniversary gala at 7 p.m. on May 23, 2023. This event will be held in the Boone House at 10 N. Fourth Street, with the doors opening at 6:30 p.m. so visitors can see the entire house.

The two-story home was built 1888-1892 and was the home of Boone until his death in 1927, a renowned musician who composed and performed classical and ragtime music. An African-American born to a formerly enslaved mother, Boone toured the U.S. and Europe for decades and became one of the wealthiest people in Columbia during his lifetime.

Ruffin will discuss the renovation process which began in 2000 and continued through 2016 when it was opened to the public. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on its own in 2003 and listed with other buildings in 1980.

Ruffin, in addition to chairing the John William “Blind” Boone Heritage Foundation’s board, has been the senior pastor of Second Baptist Church since 2004. He served two terms as Columbia’s First Ward representative and served as the city’s Poet Laureate for the City of Columbia’s 2021 Bicentennial. Prior to his retirement from the University of Missouri, he received the Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence and the Chancellor’s Award for Research and Creativity, among other honors and awards.

The gala will include refreshments to mark CoMo Preservation’s inaugural meeting on May 7, 2022, which was held in the Boone house. Its first meeting drew nearly two dozen people who launched the group. CoMo Preservation is dedicated to preserving Columbia’s unique architectural history through awareness, education, advocacy and restoration. All meetings of CoMo Preservation are free and open to the public. Check out ways to support CoMo Preservation’s mission.