In 2020, the Kingdom of Callaway Historical Society created three awards to celebrate its 60th anniversary and to honor those who made significant contributions to preserve, celebrate and educate others regarding the history of Callaway County, Missouri.

  • The Corporate Callaway Historic Preservation Award recognizes a business or organization for significant contributions to preserve, celebrate and educate others regarding the history of Callaway County, Missouri. (Organization includes non-profits and places of worship). The contribution should have created a lasting and positive impact.

  • The Individual Callaway Historic Preservation Award recognizes an individual for significant contributions to preserve, celebrate and educate others regarding the history of Callaway County, Missouri. The nominee may be a living person or honored posthumously, whose contribution created a lasting and positive impact.

  • The Barbara Dunavant Huddleston Volunteer Service Award recognizes a person’s body of work in a volunteer capacity in the collection, preservation, and promotion of local history. While the award is usually presented for a body of work over a span of years, it could also recognize a single significant achievement.

The 2023 Individual Callaway County Historic Preservation Award was presented to David McDaniel for continuously supporting building restoration and its part in the history of Fulton. David was one of two men who took over restoring the old theater building when the initial team resigned. He not only worked on the building but also helped finance the work.

David has served on the City’s Historic Preservation Commission for many years, often as president.

His most notable project is the Palace Hotel building in Fulton. After purchasing the building, he restored the interior. The building has been in continuous use since, including housing his own real estate business and providing business rental spaces for others.

We proudly present this community-minded Callawegian with this award for helping preserve our Callaway heritage.

The 2023 Corporate Callaway County Historic Preservation Award was presented to The Callaway Bank for its long-standing tradition in Callaway County as always being community oriented. It believes in being involved in the communities it serves.

Many organizations, institutions and historical entities are still here because The Callaway Bank helped guide them through challenging times, including The Great Depression and the many great Missouri floods.

As John C. Harris, former board president, noted, “when you rely on a community to keep your doors open, you owe them. You must give back.” The Callaway Bank has certainly done, providing support and resources to many. As a result, every part of the Callaway County landscape has a Callaway Bank story to tell.

We are pleased to present The Callaway Bank with this award for more than 166 years of helping shape and preserve Callaway County.

The 2023 Barbara Dunavant Huddleston Volunteer Service Awards were presented to

Donal W. Knipp for his high standards and his service to the Auxvasse community and others. The former councilman and mayor also served as president of the Auxvasse Community Center Board, home of the famous Loafer’s Week.

In 1968, he joined the local Lions Club in Auxvasse and put his service ethic to work. Don has received multiple awards for those efforts at the local, state and international levels of the Lions Club and also served on the international board of directors. 

He is a Grand Prairie Baptist Church member, the church treasurer, and deacon. Don can always be called on to provide programs on the history of Auxvasse and the area. He has always been a good friend to KCHS. We are proud to present him with this well-earned BDH Volunteer Service Award.

Frances Vaughn for her dedication as a KCHS volunteer for over 13 years, with five of those as board treasurer. Vaughn also loves family ancestry and has lovingly researched the histories of each side of her family and her husband, Richard. As a result, massive genealogy books have been prepared and shared with KCHS and her family. 

Frances is currently on the City of Fulton Preservation Board. As a member of the VFW Auxiliary Post 2657, she has helped them properly archive old records and documents and served in many leadership positions. Before its closing, she was also very active in the Callaway Hospital Auxiliary. We are pleased and proud to recognize Frances with the BDH Volunteer Service Award.

2022 Winners

  • Corporate Callaway Historic Preservation Award — New Bloomfield Area Historical Society for their mission to provide current, former and potential residents of our community with the means to make our history their own through the collection, preservation, and sharing of our historic images, documents and artifacts.

  • Individual Callaway Historic Preservation Award — Kelly English Borman for her work developing scavenger hunts in 2020 and 2021 in celebrating Callaway County and Missouri’s bicentennial.

  • Barbara Dunavant Huddleston Volunteer Service Award — Michael A. (Mike) Boulware (posthumously) for his service on the KCHS board of directors for 17 years and serving as president from 2008-10. Mike also played a big role in the annual Tractor Drive. Sheila Burre Guthrie for her 14 years of volunteer service highlighted by her role with the KCHS Fashion and Fun shows, as head of the KCHS Clothing Closet, and work with the Museum window displays.

2021 Winners

  • Corporate Callaway Historic Preservation Award — Crane’s Museum in memory of Joe and Marlene Crane for its contributions to the collection, preservation, and promotion of Callaway County history. In the future, the award will be given to organizations, businesses, non-profits or places of worship whose contributions related to local history have created a lasting and positive impact.

  • Individual Callaway Historic Preservation Award — Susan Grant Krumm and John Ovid Bell for their time and commitment as co-chairs of the Callaway 200 Committee.

  • Barbara Dunavant Huddleston Volunteer Service Award — Don Ernst for his service of over 23 years as a volunteer with KCHS and his extensive knowledge of military history. Joe Holt was honored for his service and leadership to the KCHS Board of Directors for 25 years.

2020 Winners

  • Corporate Callaway Historic Preservation Award — The Fulton Sun for its contributions to the collection, preservation, and promotion of Callaway County history. In the future, the award will be given to organizations, businesses, non-profits or places of worship whose contributions related to local history have created a lasting and positive impact.

  • Individual Callaway Historic Preservation Award — Dr. William Parrish, a founding member of the historical society, former professor of Westminster College, and author of two books on its history.

  • Barbara Dunavant Huddleston Volunteer Service Award — Barbara Huddleston, for whom the award is named, for her dedicated service to KCHS over the last 60 years.