EveryMuseum.com - Edna Roe Newton Memorial Building

See also: Milan Historical Museum

The Edna Roe Newton Memorial Building houses the often rare and lovely legacies of a married couple's 50 years together.

Both Edna May Roe and Bert Pershing Newton spent their childhood years on farms just west of Milan.

Mr. Newton's business career with the Gulf Oil Company afforded the couple years of foreign travel with extended periods in Belgium and Argentina.

The Newtons had an appreciation for works of art that they chose for their beauty rather than having been done by a famed artist, as well as textiles, carvings, porcelains and furnishings. Family heirlooms interweave with the Newton's acquired collections in a setting that is both elegant and friendly.

Mrs. Newton enjoyed the exacting arts of needlepoint and pettipoint design and her work takes center stage in the gallery.

A Flemish-style harpsichord, built by Anderson Dupree in 1986 in his Milan studio, comes to life for special concert programs.

The Edna Roe Newton Memorial Building opened to the public in 1971. A memorial plaque at the head of the grand staircase tells the story simply:

Dedicated to my wife,
Edna Roe Newton,
in loving memory of over fifty years
of her unfailing love, devotion and understanding
Bert P. Newton