The newspapers are tacked closely together in rows. Chronologically, more than a dozen across and three deep, covering a whole wall.
The headlines recount one of the darkest days in Richmond's history, one of the city's brightest days, a day that changed the course of the community.
A day that changed Jack Bales' life.
April 6, 1968 — the day that back-to-back explosions rocked the intersection of Sixth and East Main streets in Richmond.
The blasts and resulting fires killed 41 people, injured more than 120, destroyed 15 buildings and splintered windows blocks away.
When the explosions occurred at 1:47 p.m. on that sunny Saturday a week before Easter, an 18-year-old Bales was standing in Marting Arms sporting goods store next to his best friend, Greg Oler.
Bales survived. Oler died, along with everyone else in the store, which was at the epicenter of the explosions.
On that day, in other cities across the country, there was unrest and rioting because civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. had been killed two days earlier. But in Richmond, people of all races stood together, wielding fire hoses, lifting stretchers and offering comfort.
"The younger generation needs to know how people stepped in and helped and did all they did for neighbors and friends and people they didn't know," Bales said. "There were so many of them, black and white — there wasn't any color on that day. Everybody was there to help."
As a survivor, Bales is often asked about the explosions, much more often since September when he moved back to the Fountain City area where he grew up.
"People want to talk about it," Bales said. "Grandchildren of my friends want to ask questions. I don't mind at all."