Clovis Museum

The Clovis Museum is tiny and quaint. I enjoy museums with a passion, and I finally made it out this this particular setting.
The place was full of Clovis High School memorabilia dating back to 1902, which was special to my heart because this is my alma mater. There were also some Native American artifacts, old house hold items from the 1800’s, a tribute to fallen siolders from Clovis, and so much more history.
This is a great place to apprieciate some of the history of Clovis. The museum is free, but they do ask for donations.

This is a FREE mini-​museum that draws history from the good old western days of Clovis when cowboys were on their horses and people said yee-​haa, it will take maybe 10 to 15 minutes to walk and appreciate, but definitely worth a visit for its impressive collection of memorabilia and should be on the must to-​do list when visiting Fresno and Clovis. Although word to the wise, this museum shouldn’t be the only thing on your list since its so small and won’t impress most people who are looking for a huge attraction. My solution is for those who wants more than this museum to walk around old town clovis and discovers its culture, beauty, art and history, because old town by itself is a living breathing museum.
This museum interestingly used to be a bank in the 1920’s, where a dramatic bank robbery took place once in its history like in the old western movies, then it was converted into a courthouse and finally into a mini museum it is today. In this museum you will find significant artifacts and memorabilia of the important people of clovis history, the railroad history, the lumber history, the roots of this town and finally the first schools and its pupils.
I must say it was pretty interesting to see things like the old dentist table, and the log flume. Some of the items seems very creepy and belongs to american horror story or something. But definitely a real good look to the past history, one of my favorite rooms is the vault, how cool it is to walk and touch an old banks vault. I learned so much about the background of this small yet very proud town. The docents are really nice and friendly. Again this museum is free. And picture taking and selfies are allowed which is awesome!

Interesting look at the local past. Friendly docent. You can see the whole museum in 10 – 15 min. Worth the stop whether you are from out of the area or a local.

The Clovis Museum sits right in the middle of Old Town Clovis. It was once the town’s bank, and if you can hit it at the right time, you can actually witness the famous bank robbery that occurred here in another century. The actors are a «hoot,» and interact with the audience. They give you a real thrill of what it must have felt like on that fateful day.
However, if you just happen to come by on a regular day, be prepared to step back into local history like nowhere else in Fresno or Clovis. The old bank has been reconfigured to show you all the different areas of the region. If you are a Clovis High graduate, you will want to check out all of the large format senior class photos hanging in various places. Even the vault is still used to display many of the «valuables.»
If you are new to the area, stop in to see what Clovis and the surrounding area used to look like. If you have lived in the area all of your life, stop by to remember what the area once was like.

My boyfriend had planned out this entire day for him and I. I was super excited because I personally love museums and the Clovis Museum was having a melodrama on the «1924 First Bank Robbery.» We got there around 11am but had missed the first viewing. We waited outside where there were many young boy scouts and elderly people also waiting to see the melodrama. It looked as though everyone was passing around a piece of note pad for guests to write something on there but I wasn’t sure. I walked up to the elderly man guarding the door and asked him «Do you know if we just go in or wait here?» He said «Wait outside till the next one and they’ll let you in.»
We stood around and more people came and after they spoke with the same gentleman that I had spoken too they started writing something on the notepad that was being passed around.
Finally, I asked one of the elderly women who was writing on the notepad what she was writing and what it was for and she told me it was to write your name on there so you could go into the museum. I could tell she didn’t feel comfortable near me and so I took a step back and when she was done she handed me the notepad.
When it was our turn to go in, or so we thought, we followed the group that had been outside with us in and right when it was my turn to drop my name in the box the lady at the door letting people in said «oh, there’s too many of you. You’ll have to wait.» I could tell she felt uncomfortable around me and sensed that she could feel I was feeling very unwelcome. She then said «you can stay in here if you’d like since its cold out there, but you have to promise not to listen.» .
When the melodrama was done and she let us into the play area, she also let in the next group outside, but it was by far much larger than the group before us that had just gone.
Standing there watching the melodrama, I was trying very hard to appreciate the hard work everyone had put into this event, but it was difficult not to notice the obvious situation we were in.
My boyfriend and I were the only non-​white people there. I have never felt so unwelcome and been treated so clearly unwanted because of my race. At first I didn’t want to jump to conclusions and really wanted to give this women and her staff the benefit of the doubt, but clearly this event was meant only for white people.
We live in a society where everyone knows its wrong to say «I won’t let you in because you’re asian or black,» but no had to say this to us yesterday. They simply ignored us, refused us assistance of how to get in, refused entrance to us without reason, and when we refused to allow their rudeness and prejudices towards us to stop us from watching they show, they were out of options and had no choice but to let us watch the show because we had preserved through their tactics.
I thought to myself later, maybe if they had known that I am counselor and my boyfriend is in the military, they would have treated us differently. But, then I realized that if anyone feels the need to flash their credentials in order to be treated with equality and respect, then the racist people who treat others as though they are less than human will never learn that you should treat everyone with respect and equality because at the end of the day we are all humans beings.
The play itself was well done and the story line was good. However, due to the treatment we received yesterday and the kind of people who work there I cannot recommend this place to anyone. Please do not support this place until its staff has been diversified and entrance for all people is welcomed.