Breathing life into Virginia’s untold history: 19th-century home to get revival as Black history museum
For generations of Petersburg residents, the stately 19th-century home on Sycamore Street was the city’s public library.
For Wayne M. Crocker, the William R. McKenney Memorial Building is something more.
“I kind of grew up in the library,” said Crocker, who started working there as a library page organizing the shelves in 1973 when he was a junior in high school and went on to become director of library services, a position he’s held for more than 40 years. “I have a fond attachment to the building, to the history and the role it played in the lives of many people in the city, including me.”