Robidoux Row Museum welcomes new director

By Kirsten Stokes

Robidoux Row, which was built in the 1850s as apartments and restored as a museum, has recently hired a new director to supervise the conservation and administration of the historical property.

“I came back to St. Joseph to help take care of my parents and I looked around and decided I was eager to do something where I could give back to the community,” said Jeff McMillian, the new director of Robidoux Row. “When I saw the opportunity at Robidoux Row, it felt like a good match.”

The city holds no unfamiliarity for him. At the age of 13, Jeff McMillian took on the role of a paperboy. His entrepreneurship and achievements caught the attention of the St. Joseph News-Press in the 1970s. Today, he aspires to utilize his upbringing in St. Joseph as a foundation to rejuvenate the museum and attract a fresh audience through his passion for detail.

This was exemplified as he highlighted a desk, which is an artifact passed down through generations and holds a significant place in the history of the second mayor of St. Joseph’s family. It is now cherished as one of McMillian’s favorite pieces in the museum.

“I won’t open everything, but there are compartments, even drawers on the side and it’s just the exquisite details that the craftsmen put into building this desk. We are fortunate to have it in our collection,” he said.

Previously falling on tough times, the museum saw negative impacts, largely due to COVID-19, and with a lack of directorship and staff, it was projected to stay vacant. However, with the help of gracious donors like Hillyard and the Convention and Visitors Bureau, it continued to stand.

“We are fortunate that some folks stepped in, stopped that slide and renovated the place bringing back to life,” McMillian said.

Kathy Hill Bahner, a board member for the museum, expressed her gratitude for the positive changes that McMillian has implemented in the past six months.

“We are tremendously excited to have Jeff join us,” Bahner said. “Jeff brings the hometown perspective, he graduated from Missouri Western and he went off and had a successful corporate career. We’re very lucky that in this point in time he felt the call to come home.”

The museum will be closed for the months of January and February for renovations, but McMillian said it is expected to reopen on March 1.

“We have bounced back really well,” McMillian said. “Our event space downstairs will be available to rent for $45 at the end of February and we’ll have a grand opening event in March.”