THE SCHEPIS MUSEUM
by Mary Fonseca
Every Halloween, goblins, ghosts, pirates, and gypsies go trick or treating on Main Street in Columbia, Louisiana. Then, clutching bags full of candy, they join the crowd congregating near the Schepis Museum for the "Witch Way to Main Street?"celebration, one of many festive events held on the downtown streets of this charming community with a proud riverboat heritage. Ten years ago, Columbia's downtown wasn't so lively. Many of the stores on Main Street were vacant and several were in bad shape. A revival was launched with the careful renovation of the Schepis Building, constructed around 1916 by John Schepis, a Sicilian architect who became a shopkeeper after he emigrated to America.
Schepis used hollow-core cement blocks of his own design to form the building's exterior, and expressed his affection both for the land of his birth, and his adopted country, by crowning the second story with life-size statues of George Washington and Christopher Columbus. He created the monuments by designing and carving clay statues, molding them with plaster of Paris, and casting them in concrete.
Customers who entered Schepis' new mercantile store purchased fabrics, hardware, and other goods in a room he modeled after the Renaissance-style palazzos of the mid-fifteenth century. After years of cramped quarters and meager earnings, the hard-working merchant, his wife, and two children, enjoyed the comfortable second-story living quarters they retired to at the end of the day.
As the century wore on, other families took up residence in the upstairs apartment, and businesses ranging from a feed and seed store to a skating rink replaced Schepis' emporium. In the 1970s, the building he designed and erected with so much care fell into disrepair. The deterioration continued in the 1980s even though the structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
Fortunately, a grant awarded by the Louisiana Division of Historic Places, and matched by the Caldwell Parish Industrial Development Board, provided funds for restoration and the building's gradual evolution into a facility that is the pride of Columbia. It now houses a cherished museum that is the center of community life in Caldwell Parish, and offices for Caldwell Parish Downtown Development and the Chamber of Commerce.
The Schepis Museum, 107 Main St. (P.O. Box 10), Columbia, LA 71418 is open Tues.-Fri. 10 A.M.- 4 P.M.; Sat. 10 A.M.-2 P.M. (318) 649-9931.
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© 1999 Mary Fonseca. All rights reserved.
