El Paso Students Transform Historic 1870 Barbershop into Project XV Museum in Illinois

EL PASO, Ill. — A neglected commercial building where a Civil War veteran once cut hair has reopened as a civil rights landmark, salvaged from decay by local high school teenagers.

Local high school students in El Paso, Illinois, have driven the complete overhaul of the long-abandoned barbershop once run by David Strother, transforming the brick structure into the Project XV Museum. Strother etched his name into state history on April 4, 1870, when he walked into an El Paso polling station and became the first Black person to cast a ballot in Illinois under the newly ratified 15th Amendment. His brother, Charles Strother, followed minutes later to cast the state's second ballot.

The preservation campaign traces back to an ordinary classroom assignment led by El Paso local history teacher Michael Melick. Melick directed his class to comb through a nearby cemetery, select an overlooked grave, and reconstruct that person's historical footprint. One student singled out David Strother — a figure whose civil rights milestone had faded from local memory. Intrigued by the findings, Melick marched his students downtown to the dilapidated storefront where Strother and his brother once cut hair. Standing before the cracked masonry, Melick asked a direct question: What would you do with this space if it were yours?

The answer was immediate. Turn it into a museum.

From Cemetery Research to Structural Restoration

Premises owner Tabitha Arnold-Nowark backed the students' ambition without hesitation, granting access to the historic property to anchor the Project XV Museum. Student volunteers hauled out debris, cleared loose bricks, shoveled dirt, and stripped away decades of neglect to stabilize the interior.

Nikita Richards-Calahan, vice president of the museum, emphasized that the building holds singular importance for African American civic heritage, turning an overlooked Midwestern town into an open classroom on American constitutional expansion.

The 1870 Ballot Challenge and the Strother Legacy

Born into slavery in Missouri in 1843, Strother gained his freedom through his mother, Leah, an educated woman who successfully purchased her family's legal liberation. Before reaching Illinois, Strother worked the commercial waterways as a crewman on Mississippi River steamboats. When the American Civil War erupted, he enlisted as a cook for the 17th Illinois Infantry. After the war, Strother, his mother, and his brother relocated to El Paso, establishing their downtown barbershop.

Historical documents detail the tension of April 4, 1870. The 15th Amendment had just entered constitutional law, prohibiting federal and state governments from denying citizens the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude. When Strother stepped forward at the municipal polling site, election judges halted him. They debated whether state law permitted a Black resident to cast a ballot. Only after local election officials scrutinized the newly certified constitutional provision did they concede and accept his vote.

Project XV Museum curator Brian Ulrich noted that archival records prove Strother commanded deep civic respect across the community throughout his post-war civilian life. When Strother died, local newspapers documented that his funeral procession was among the largest ever assembled in El Paso, accompanied by an unusually expansive published obituary.

The museum board confirmed that the facility will expand its permanent public displays, presenting historical archives detailing Reconstruction-era legal battles, Strother's military and civic artifacts, and guided programming on American constitutional history.