Historic Woolworth’s Counter now on display

In July 1963, Black students in St. Augustine staged a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter on King Street in St. Augustine. The youth were arrested and charged with public vagrancy and disturbance of the peace. When presented with a deal to have the charges dropped if they agreed to never protest again, four students, JoeAnn Anderson Ulmer, Samuel White, Audrey Nell Edwards, and Willie Carl Singleton, refused. Known as the Saint Augustine Four, these students were separated from their parents and sent to a reform school, changing their lives forever. After national press exposure and the intervention of state officials, the students were released in January 1964. They were championed as heroes and celebrated by national figures like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Jackie Robinson.

The original Woolworth counter, on display at the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center.

A section of that Woolworth lunch counter has been preserved as a part of St. Augustine civil rights history. It was displayed in Journey: 450 Years of the African-American Experience, an exhibit developed for the 450th anniversary of Saint Augustine that depicted 450 years of Black history in the city.  Journey was on view at the Visitor Information Center throughout the summer of 2014. The lunch counter was then installed in an exhibit at a Wells Fargo Bank branch, which occupied the original Woolworth’s site. Now, Former St. Augustine Mayor Joe Boles, owner of the lunch counter, has made it available for display at the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center. 

A replica counter has been featured alongside four original stools from the restaurant since 2019, as part of the museum’s civil rights exhibit according to Executive Director, Regina Gayle Phillips.  “Having this section of the original counter is a wonderful addition to the museum.  It is displayed in the same room with the original fingerprint card of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from when he was arrested here in 1964.”

The civil rights story is just one portion of over four centuries of Black history in St. Augustine. The LMCC’s permanent exhibits trace the Black heritage of the area from the Spanish Colonial period through the 20th century. The museum is housed in the Excelsior High School Building, the first public Black high school in St Johns County. Built in 1925, the Excelsior Building is currently undergoing the first phase of a historic preservation project from the National Park Service. After a brief closure to rehabilitate the museum’s galleries, the LMCC has returned to its regular hours of Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10:30 am to 4:30 pm. Visitors are invited to tour the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center year round and delve into over 450 years of Black heritage in the oldest city in the United States.

More information to plan your visit can be found here.