Historic Courthouse Site to be Transformed into Cultural Monument
The CHASE Fund is pleased to announce a significant milestone in the development of the Morant Bay Museum: the commencement of the concept and design phase. The museum, which will be built on the historic site of the old Morant Bay Courthouse in St. Thomas, is intended to preserve and celebrate the legacy of the Morant Bay Rebellion of 1865 and its defining role in shaping modern Jamaica.
The project was publicly announced by Prime Minister the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, ON, PC, MP, during his Budget Debate presentation on March 17, 2023:
“Through the CHASE Fund, a museum will be built in Morant Bay to ensure that current and future generations are rooted and grounded in the knowledge of our rich cultural and historical heritage. The museum is to capture and properly document the history of the Morant Bay Rebellion and its defining impacts on modern Jamaica in order to help our people to truly understand the struggles our forefathers underwent.”
— Prime Minister the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, ON, PC, MP, Budget Debate, March 2023
The museum will be developed on the site of the old Morant Bay Courthouse — a declared historic site owned by the St. Thomas Municipal Corporation. The original courthouse was destroyed by fire in 2007, but its brick walls remain standing, a physical and symbolic remnant of one of Jamaica’s most consequential historical events. It was here, in October 1865, that the Morant Bay Rebellion unfolded under the leadership of preacher Paul Bogle, now one of Jamaica’s seven National Heroes. On the courthouse grounds stands a monument in memory of Bogle and the more than 400 martyrs of the uprising.
Following an international competitive bidding process, the CHASE Fund has engaged DTJ Design, Inc., a United States-based design firm, in collaboration with local architectural partners Kingston 10 Architects (K10A), to provide conceptualisation and design services for the museum. The contract was signed in March 2026. The consultancy is expected to span six (6) months.
Design work is now actively underway. The Design Team — comprising DTJ Design and Kingston 10 Architects — completed a visit to the Morant Bay site on May 18–19, 2026, conducting site observations and initiating preliminary design work. Weekly progress meetings are ongoing, and an Inception Report has been submitted by the consultants. Community and broader stakeholder engagement activities are being arranged to ensure that the museum concept reflects the voices and perspectives of the people of St. Thomas and all Jamaicans.
“We are thrilled to have reached this stage of the project. Getting here required sustained effort — from the early stakeholder conversations in 2023 through a rigorous international procurement process — and we are proud of the foundation that has been laid. With a talented design team now on board and active work underway, the vision of a world-class museum in Morant Bay is becoming a reality. This museum will not simply be a building; it will be a place of memory, of reckoning, and of pride — a space where Jamaicans and visitors alike can engage deeply with a chapter of our history that helped to define who we are as a people.”
— Billy Heaven, Chief Executive Officer, CHASE Fund
The project is guided by a multi-agency Project Oversight Committee comprising representatives of the CHASE Fund, the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport (MCGES), the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT), and the Institute of Jamaica (IOJ). The St. Thomas Municipal Corporation, which owns the site, has expressed its full support for the transformation of the old courthouse grounds.
