On the Texas Plains Trail... Museum #21

O'Donnell Heritage Museum
O'Donnell, Texas

This was the last museum on our tour of the museums along the Texas Plains Trail.  The trail includes 50 museums but we decided to hit 21 of them.  Although, we spent many hours on the road, spent money on gas and eating out for lunch, had a flat tire on a busy highway, and had one or two meltdowns by the little ones this experience took us to a lot of towns we would have never visited, allowed us to meet some very interesting people, taught us more about the areas history and gave us a summer memory that we will never forget.  

  The town of O'Donnell is about 800 people made up of mostly cotton gin workers, the town is small but the museum was full of fun exhibits.  In the main entrance we were greeted by two locals who we enjoyed talking to and learning more about the area.  The town is also part of the Quannah Parker trail and there is a large arrow outside the museum.  On the first floor, the area is overwhelmed with collections from everything from Dr. Pepper bottles to typewriters to arrowheads.  The room adjacent is dedicated to the late  Dan Blocker, an actor from the show Bonanza.  Clothes, posters, and artifacts from the mans life as well as career are displayed in an enclosed area with viewing only through glass windows.  A lot of things around the town are named after Dan Blocker and a large bust of him is outside the museum.  Ranch and farming equipment can also be viewed int he same area.  Upstairs were other exhibits from the early 1900's to 1950's.  The areas are enclosed either by glass or wood bars.  Every exhibit had mannequins dressed and posed in various scenes which made viewing interesting.  There was a church scene filled with mannequin people, a school room scene with teacher and children, doctors office scene, a woman's dress shop and a military scene.  The enclosed areas made it easy to keep little hands from touching everything in sight.  This was a fun museum to visit because of the uniqueness of the displays.  

On the Texas Plains Trail... Museum #20

Dal Paso Museum
Lamesa, Texas

The Dal Paso museum is housed in the original hotel by the same name and was at one time the largest hotel between Dallas and El Paso, hence the name.  The ceiling is the original tiles as well as the hotel information desk, complete with mail boxes, in the front entrance.  Upstairs is the exhibit area.  Inside original hotel rooms are displayed items from the early 1920's era including farm tools, household items, bank and teller equipment and medical supplies.  A large area was dedicated to Lamesa history with newspaper clippings and information about the area and town.  Another room was filled with an extensive collection of Madame Alexander dolls.  The exhibits were organized by subject in each of the rooms upstairs.  The kids especially enjoyed the stair lift on the stairs, we don't see many of them.  

On the Texas Plains Trail... Museum #19

American Museum of Agriculture
Lubbock, Texas

I appreciate the purpose of this museum to preserve history but the American Museum of Agriculture is a huge work in progress.  It seemed to be a room full of preview exhibits of what was to come for the future museum, which is probably true in some respect.  There are plans and pictures and even a hologram of the future museum in different areas, with labels of interactive exhibits, hands on children areas and much larger displays.  Only a third of what the museum has now is on display in this museum.  The museum charges an admission, we were able to get in half price with the military discount.    Old tractors and farm equipment are on display outside the large red barn which houses the museum and you can view these as you drive up to the parking lot.  Large, restored tractors are on show inside, as well as a cotton gin exhibit, a room full of donated tractor ride-ons and toys, plow displays, and butter churns and household items from the early agriculture era.  Other rooms off to the back were incomplete with workers busy in them.  Through out the hall, description cards list the time period of the tractors and the use.  Video screens were around, though they were not on, but I assume they would explain a little more about farming in general.  A small version of a cotton gin was also on display to show how they work, it was not on , but we had to ask twice if we could see it work.  The future museum definitely seems to be more geared to offer information though this small preview was not.  I am assuming that the admission charge to go into the museum will be used for the future financing of the larger museum.  The kids had a lot of questions that I could not answer and I was a little surprised to find such a lack of material.  Viewing the tractors and the farm tools were the kids favorite thing to do.

On the Texas Plains Trail... Museum #18

American Wind Power Center and Museum
Lubbock, Texas

While traveling across Texas the kids and I have enjoyed viewing the wind turbines across the horizon numerous times and visiting the wind power center did not disappoint them.  From the moment we drove onto the property we were surrounded by windmills of all shapes and sizes from all eras in actual working order.  There is a charge to get into the museum per family, we were fortunate enough to use our military IDs and we got in free.  Inside the center includes huge displays of windmills with description cards from where and when they came from.  Also, included is a small display about how the windmills produce electricity as well as a short video about how water is pumped by a windmill.  Windmills were displayed doing various jobs all throughout the center. In the back of the center a working windmill was pumping recirculated water to show how it is done.  In a large conference room adjacent to the center a wall to wall mural was painted showing a timeline of windmills from their beginning  to now.  Outside the center, along with the working windmills, was also a wind turbine that had been taken apart and left on the ground for the purpose of up close viewing and touching.  This was definitely the kids favorite part of the center, they spent over 30 minutes crawling in and over the large pieces and marveling over the size.  Also noted in the museum was future plans to build a bigger center with interactive exhibits with a wind turbine built to size to display.  The center was a favorite of the kids and they actually learned a little about windmills different purposes and how they worked.

On the Texas Plains Trail... Museum #17

Heritage Museum
Big Spring, Texas

The Heritage Museum in Big Spring is small and filled with lots of "collections".  The museum did cost, unlike many of the other museums on our travels.  The museum is housed in a very large building but the museum itself only takes up a very small amount of it.  Supposedly, the rest of the museum is used for storage and research.  The first floor of the museum usually houses a temporary exhibit but on our visit there was not one, but it did have a few pictures up of rodeo clowns, but we were not sure of the origins of the clowns, if they were local or not.  Upstairs is the collections.  A curio cabinet holds a collection of domino's from a local man who gave them to the museum for display.  One room is home to a very large collection of phonographs.  Another area displayed an extensive amount of doll collections from the British monarchy to Star Trek.  Off of the doll room was a shadow room, where a light flashes to create shadows on the wall, what is had to do with the museum I am not sure.  The kids loved this part and we spent the majority of our time in the shadow room making shadows.  A short video plays about the local Bull Fighting woman from Big Spring, Patricia McCormick along with an outfit from her time in the ring.  A wall displays the large collection of longhorns including the largest in the world.  A small case shows a collection of guns and a wall display explains the origins of the name "Big Spring".  Two other small rooms show collections of ranching tools and physician tools.  The museum had a small theatre but movies were not being shown at the time we were there.  A fully stocked gift shop is also on the first floor of the building.

On the Texas Plains Trail... Museum #16

Heart of West Texas Museum

Colorado City, Texas

After taking a month off from our museum travels we are back on track.  We started by driving to Colorado City to visit the small museum they have nestled there.  I had read from reviews to call before coming to make sure they were open, I was so glad I did because sure enough they were closed (for air conditioner problems).  After explaining that we had driving over two hours we were graciously invited over.  Our visit was short, because of the work going on inside as well as the fact that the director personally let us in on her own time.  We started by watching a video of a Kiowa Indian Chief named Lone Wolf, who was an important figure when Indians were being forced onto reservations.  We were so used to hearing about Qaunnah Parker in the local museums that this was something new and interesting.  A very large fossil of a mammoth is on display as well as a full skeleton of an extinct buffalo from the area.  Exhibits of barbed wire, ranch tools and cowboy gear can also be viewed.  Upstairs houses furniture and pictures from the past, including a full room of old toys collected from around the world by a gentleman in town that gave them to the museum.  One room is dedicated to a local woman who started the grocery store in town and her bedroom furnishings and pictures can be seen.  The house that the museum is in was once owned by Preston C. Coleman who is known as "The Father of Texas Tech University".  The end of our tour was complete by going inside a red caboose that is kept outside on the property.  The kids had a wonderful time roaming inside and out of the train car.  For being such a small museum the large displays of fossils were done very well and we wish we would have had a little more time to really look around.

On the Texas Plains Trail... Museum #15

The Crosby County Pioneer Memorial Museum
Crosbyton, Texas

The Crosby County Pioneer Memorial Museum is a great museum with a very large collection of Indian artifacts.  It is made up of four wings, the last wing being the newest and still getting all put together.  The tour begins in the main hallway where we learned about early visitors like Coronado and about the Texas Rangers and U.S. 4th Calvary during the presence of the Indians.  Also included in this hall was a section all about cotton where we learned that Crosbyton at one time had the largest cotton gin in the nation.  There was also a display about early telephones with a telephone switchboard, a small exhibit about medicine and a few displays dedicated to the founders of the museum.  The next wing was all about the first inhabitants of the area, Hank Smith (from Germany) and Elizabeth Boyle (from Switzerland).  It gave details and artifacts about their life and families.  Home and family life displays were in the next hall and had time period home furnishings and clothes along with a dug-out home.  The last and newest wing was solely about American Indians and was wall covered displays of Indian artifacts and arrowheads collected over the last 40 years by a 4th decedent of Quannah Parker, Wayne Parker.  His collection is so large that the museum is still continuing to process and display them.  Worth seeing, especially for the kids, was the huge open tee pee with mannequin Indian children in the middle of the room and the various stuffed animals, like the Golden Eagle.  One wall had numerous pictures of Qaunnah Parker and information about his mission.  It was interesting to read about the Battle of Blanco Canyon, which took place near by Crosbyton, when the US Army and Quannah Parker and the Comanche Indians battled, ultimately ending the Comanches control of the area.    This was the first museum that the husband has been able to join us and he was even impressed with the exhibits and the information offered.  The museum was self guided but a guide was offered and was much appreciated, they are always so helpful and interesting to listen to.

On the Texas Plains Trail... Museum #14

Duggan House Museum
Littlefield, Texas

(I forgot my camera on this visit...)

The Duggan House Museum is the actual house that the Duggan family lived in, in Littlefield, Texas.  It is told that Mr. Duggan is the founder of the town but Major Littlefield, a confederate soldier, is the father of the town.  Littlefield, Texas also happens to be the birthplace of music legend Waylon Jennings and numerous places and things in town are named after him.  We almost missed the museum in this small town, since it is an actual house, if it were not for the huge sign hanging on the side of the shed announcing it.  The director of the museum was a wonderful hostess and after telling us a story about her donkey getting out (or was it a goat) she led us around the small museum telling us stories and giving us lots of history about the town.  One thing that I really appreciated about her was when talking to us she made it a point to talk to the kids and not just me.  The majority of the artifacts in the museum were collections of very old items and pictures from the town.  One room held an old DJ booth from a local radio station, and albums and newspaper articles of Waylon and other locals who made it big in the music business.  Another room had stacks and stacks of old Littlefield newspapers and old high school and general school paraphernalia from Littlefield.  The museum also had a lot of old typewriters all over and my kids could not keep their hands off of them, there is something about clicking down keys and watching the metal letters bang on the paper.  What made this visit a treat was truly the director and her enthusiasm for Littlefield, she really made our time there enjoyable.

On the Texas Plains Trail... Museum #13

Gaines County Museum
Seminole, Texas
The Gaines County Museum in Seminole, Texas is a really small fun place to visit.  Mr Barnes, who is the director, and also the hand drawn man on the super cute brochure of the place, greeted us at the entrance and invited us in.  This museum has a little bit of everything but displayed in an organized way, and using the "super cute" hand drawn map in the brochure you are sure to not get lost!  Each room is dedicated to different subjects from 100-150 years ago such as ranching and heritage, business/music/medical, women's, school, and military.  The military room was by far the most interesting and was primarly dedicated to WWII.  There was a real Norden Bombsight on display, the US's most highly guarded secret (it was an instrument that dropped the Atomic bomb), and flags and pictures from the war.  A kitchen and bedroom scene was set up with time period furnishings and appliances.  A 2 seater buggy and 65 million year old fossils are also on display.  I suspect that Mr. Barnes would have been ever so happy to give us a tour of the museum and giving us some information about the area, but seeing as we came in about 20 minutes until it closed we didn't even ask.  Lots of artifacts to look at and enjoy.

On the Texas Plains Trail... Museum #12

Seagraves-Loop Museum
Seagraves, Texas

The Seagraves-Loop Museum is located in a tiny little town called Seagraves.  To be honest I never even found out why it was called the Seagraves-Loop (but apparently other things in the town also take that name).  It is housed in an old historic two story building in the downtown area of the populated town of about 2,000.  My small ones favorites displays were the real model T car and the post office boxes that could be opened and closed and filled with mail.  This museum centered more around a time period then the area itself.  It had a display dedicated to Quannah Parker, as it is part of the Quannah Parker trail, with hundreds and hundreds of arrow heads.  1920 era fashions, toys, and appliances were exhibited along with a military case with uniforms and cowboy gear like saddles and barbed wire.  It is self guided and information is displayed with each exhibit. An art gallery is connected to the museum and housed art from are locals.

On the Texas Plains Trail... Museum #11

Terry County Heritage Museum
Brownfield, Texas

Come and enjoy the Terry County Heritage Museum and learn everything you will ever want to know about Terry County and the city of Brownfield.  This museum is not self guided and is very particular about touching the artifacts (something I find so interesting in all of these different museums, some places could care less and some want to cut your fingers off it they get touchy)!  The tour guide greeted us at the entrance and was a great source of information throughout the tour.  The museum is housed in an actual home owned and lived in by an early Brownfield resident and each room now features artifacts related to the area.  In this particular museum, one room was dedicated to Native Americans and in particular Quannah Parker.  (Many of the museums on our trail will also dedicate an area to Quannah Parker as well, and be part of the Quannah Parker Arrow Trail).  FYI, the Quannah Parker Arrow Trail is designated by an overly large arrow in the ground in the area where Quannah Parker is to have been.  They can be seen infront of many of the museums that we have visited.  The museum also displays exhibits and information about cowboy farming life with real pictures, and stuffed animals from the area, and rooms are furnished in time period pieces.  The back of the museum is set up as a one room school and on display is a real barber shop from the "first" white person born in the area (everyone else was Indian).  Although the museum is small, the tour takes over an hour and with little kids my patience was running very thin towards the end :)  In all honesty, the tour was great and was packed with some really fascinating details of Terry County and the tour guide seemed to have a great appreciation for the area.

On the Texas Plains Trail... Museum #10

Museum of the Llano Estacado
Wayland Baptist University
Plainview, Texas

The Museum of the Llano Estacado is a small museum with various exhibits centered on the Llano Estacado area.  As we began the self guided tour the first displays are of very successful individuals who came from Plainview, such as a Miss Texas, a movie star, Jimmy Dean (yes, the sausage man), and an opera singer.  Around the corner begins the exhibits of the Llano Estacado, starting with the Indians living in the area.  Not a lot of information is included in the actual exhibits so when we asked for a brochure the front hostess gave us what looked like a packet of papers that a tour guide would use that explained every display.  It was wonderful to use!  I was really appreciative that we had it because otherwise I'm not really sure how we would know the purpose of some the exhibits.  The museum ended with a large water well digger and an explanation of the importance of irrigation in the area of the Llano Estacado.  I enjoyed the full to life displays of an Indian campground, a windmill and the water well digger as well as time period furnished rooms.  The museum itself is very well laid out and very eye appealing and the kids enjoyed it a lot.

On the Texas Plains Trail... Museum #9

The Muleshoe Heritage Center
Muleshoe, Texas

The Muleshoe Heritage Center is home to the double muleshoe "M" which is proudly displayed on the land along with historic homes and buildings from the area.  The entire center has 7 buildings indigenous to the area (except for the log cabin) standing in restored glory that are fully furnished with time period accessories and can be toured during business hours.  The center is not self guided as each house must be opened by the guide.  The kids and I had a great time walking around the inside of the houses and learning lots of Muleshoe area information from the tour guide.  Also included is a great brochure that also explains the history and importance of each house on the land.  The tour guide was great with us letting us go at our pace and not overwhelming us with to much unwanted information.  Unlike the Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock, we were able to actually walk in and around the houses to really get a hands on feel for the time period.  Look for the giant Muleshoe upon entrance to the park, you won't miss it!

On the Texas Plains Trails... Museum #8

MW Post Art Collection
South Plains College
Levelland, Texas

This was an adventure to actually go to... maybe it was because it was a Friday on a college campus or maybe it was because UIL competitions for the High Schools were in progress, either way we walked all over the place looking for the gallery... definitely not easy to find.  The Fine Arts building was open but shut down, no professors or secretaries, and we had a maintenance man open the gallery for us as we walked around looking at the paintings quite quickly.  The maintenance man told us a few interesting things about the art, how it is cleaned, where it used to be hung and pointed out  details to the kids about some of the pieces.  There was a nude piece in the gallery but Colton has been around enough art to act mature about it, but he did mention that he was not going to take a picture of it!  It was a small gallery but perfect size for little ones to look at and and be on their way.  The campus was very nice so the majority of the afternoon was spent outside looking for caterpillars... which paid off because one was found!

On the Texas Plains Trail... Museum #7

Southwest Collection Library - TTU

Lubbock, Texas

The Southwest Collection Library is located on the Texas Tech Campus and is exactly what it is called... a library. This is not a typical museum to take the family to since it is mainly used for research for the students, a lot of which were in there working. The college girls loved having the little ones visiting and crowded around the window to see my cute kids... complete with giggles and smiles! The museum itself is a collection of window displays with typical Texas artifacts and a few dedicated to people like the late Governor of Texas, Preston Smith (his desk is displayed). It was basically a hallway that circled around the actual library and took us less then 20 minutes... my older son felt like we were "cheating" by only staying such a short time. It was fun to get a close up, hands on look at the cactus they had in the hallway... and judging from my son's pictures they were the highlight of his visit there.

On the Texas Plains Trail... Museum #6

The National Ranching Heritage Center
Lubbock, Texas
The Ranching Heritage Center is an outdoor museum displaying real homes and buildings from the early 1900's. This was a great place to visit for the kids since in school we have been studying that time period and learning about families who left it all to try their hand at farming and ranching. Over 43 structures are open and furnished for viewing with an information plaque at each place. The trail could take a whole afternoon but with little ones we spent close to 2 hours. It was very interesting to look at the different ways homes were built and how with time they improved and learned what worked and what did not. A train is also along the trail and was the favorite with the 4 year old... by far one of the better museums to let the kids run and enjoy a little history.

On the South Plains Trail... Museum #5

The Garza County Museum

Post, Texas

The Garza County museum has a little of everything!... not exaggerating. Upon entering a huge picture of Mr. Post invites you in, who yes, is the man behind the cereal. We learned mostly everything about Mr. Post from the museum staff as I did not really find any information about him in the museum itself. The artifacts and "things" take up two complete stories and are loosely based around the 1920's era. Some of the rooms are replicas of the time period, a kitchen, bathroom, living room, doctor office, chapel and some rooms are solely dedicated to specific subjects, western and rodeo, dinosaur fossils, baby dolls, Boy Scouts, Native Americans and sports. There is so much to look at here that by the time we got to the second story the little ones were done! The museum staff gave us a "teaching guide" to the museum at the end of our visit, which would have been helpful through out the tour to get more out of some of the displays. Every item in this museum is out so hands were very hard to control, luckily nothing seemed to be to breakable or irreplaceable. A short video is also offered about the local Indian ceremony performed in Post in March, which apparently is worth making a visit for.

On the Texas Plains Trail... Museum #4

OS Museum

Post, Texas

The OS Museum is a small museum in the small town of Post, Texas. It houses a large, large, large collection of artifacts from all over the world... so many in fact, that the museum closes three times a year to change out all the displays. It is said that it one artifact only makes its appearance every six years. This visit, the museum was displaying the Easter egg collection as well as many sculptures of Christ. Bronze work, crystals, and ivory were housed very nicely in the wall to wall display cases, nicely out of reach of little hands. The museum staff were wonderful hostesses telling us information about the items and about the history of the town and the people who are involved in the museum. For such a small space there was so much to see, we spent an hour without even realizing it because of the quantity and quality of items.

On the Texas Plains Trail... Museum #3

Texas Tech Museum

Lubbock, Texas

The museum is owned and operated by Texas Tech University. A planetarium is housed inside the museum and is a fun activity and worth a visit. A wing of the museum is dedicated to dinosaurs with an actual triceratops and tyrannosaurus displayed right when you walk in. We spent most of our time in the dinosaur section where other bones and small dioramas are set up. Other rooms include African art, Southwest art, and a section about the history of Lubbock. An interactive globe caught the attention of all of us which turned out to be a highlight of our visit (found in the dinosaur area). The theatre is set up with live footage of space through the Hubble Telescope showing different space features. The exhibit areas in the front are temporary and are constantly changing, one of which is now displaying wedding dresses through the years. A kid friendly museum with dinosaurs, of course, being the favorite display...

On the Texas Plains Trail... Museum #2

Silent Wings Museum

Lubbock, Texas

The museum explains the use and importance of gliders in WWII, hence the name silent wings. Actual gliders are on display as well as very well put together dioramas of mannequin soldiers in action. Lots of WWII artifacts from all services and from all sides are also exhibited along with a short film with real footage about the gliders from the view point of real glider pilots. About 4 interactive screens are positioned around the museum and allow technology thirsty people to learn some other information about the war and times. This is an awesome museum for kids because of the large and interesting displays and for adults there is lots of information to read to help understand and appreciate the USA's involvement and contribution to the war. This is by far one of my favorite museums, maybe because I really learned a lot about a subject I knew nothing about, and because of the small size it really shows off a lot of great stuff!