Oneida Pioneer Museum

A Brief History: The Oneida County Relic Preservation and Historical Society

The Oneida County Museum is housed in the former R.B. Davis Drug Store and Boarding House, built in 1914. The original safe and pressed-tin ceiling are still intact.  After the Museum building was leased for many years, the R.B. Davis family generously gifted it to the Oneida County Relic Preservation and Historical Society (Oneida Pioneer Museum) on December 26, 2012.

The Museum had its origins in a collection of artifacts gathered by Miss Hattie Morgan and local stations of the Native Daughters of Idaho Pioneers (NDIP) in the 1930s. In the spring of 1963, when Malad City began planning for the 1964 town centennial celebration, Mrs. Anella Jones Price, who was president at that time of the NDIP, spearheaded the gathering of the artifacts for an exhibit.  After the centennial, the artifacts were displayed at several different locations in Malad City until they found a permanent home when the R.B. Davis family agreed to lease the old drugstore building to the museum group through the efforts of the Oneida Economic Development Committee acting through the GEM Community Committee.  Grants were obtained to renovate the building, and a grand opening/dedication was held on July 24, 1992.

The Museum displays a variety of local treasures, including furniture, photographs, quilts, toys, farm implements, musical instruments, clothing, hats, military uniforms, medical instruments, and books.  There is a library corner with pictures, books, family histories, school yearbooks, and community histories. The collection of pioneer-era crayon portraits displayed on all walls of the Museum was called “the best collection in the state of Idaho” by officials with the Idaho Heritage Trust. There is a Library Corner with pictures, old books, including short stories and histories, and books with genealogies of local families, and a military display of local heroes who fought in the wars. Photographs are on display on the walls of the building.