Most folks have packed up their winter bedding, but at Robidoux Row Museum they’ve put some of their quilts on display.

In a display area called Grandma’s Attic is a late 19th century necktie quilt.

Each square has a center piece that looks like a necktie, said Clyde Weeks, the museum’s executive director. On either side of the tie are pieces of fabric representing a vest, and the outer pieces are the topcoat, Mr. Weeks said.

There is a problem with this necktie quilt.

“It doesn’t have any real neckties,” Mr. Weeks said. The fabric has been cut and shaped to resemble a necktie, but it’s not a tie, he said.

In this case, calling the fabric squares a necktie quilt describes the pattern used to make each square.

“I have seen this pattern with real neckties,” Mr. Weeks said.

A local artesian, Bill Nelson, who owned May’s Picture Framing for many years, donated the quilt to the St. Joseph Historical Society. The society operates the museum.

The quilt came to Mr. Nelson through Claude Davis, a former St. Joseph police commissioner. Mr. Davis was part of the Davis Brothers Real Estate business and the quilt had been in his family.

A recent edition to the historical society’s quilt collection came from the Frogge family.

It’s a late 19th century crazy quilt that shows how people treasured even the smallest scrap of cloth, Mr. Weeks said. Sometimes looking at a crazy quilt, people don’t see a pattern, but the basic pattern is the square.

Historians have discovered that 19th century quilts also can tell a bit about a family’s economic status.

If they had money there could be a lot of silk, velvet and felts in the squares, Mr. Weeks said. And if the family didn’t have money, it might be cotton fabrics and sack cloth, he said.

The Frogge and Davis quilts are just two of the many items at Robidoux Row that tell the life of city founder Joseph Robidoux and others who called this river city their home.

For those interested in seeing more quilts, many local museums are working together to put on a spring show of quilts in March 2010 in conjunction with the Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area.

Each week, Property of the Past writer Marshall White features a building or an item of St. Joseph history. If you have a home, building, special collection or an interesting piece of history that you’d like to see featured, please contact him at marshall@npgco.com.

Newspapers in Education

n While the kids are home from school, parents (or other family members) can tell their children the history of a family heirloom such as a quilt. Kids can take notes and turn the oral history into a short essay.