Hutchinson County Museum Borger, Texas

Mailing Address

618 North Main
Borger, TX 79007

Street Address

608 N. Main
Borger, TX 79007

Phone: 806-273-0130
Fax: 806-273-0128
Email:

Related Links

www.borger.com/Museum.htm

Admissions

Free

Description

The Hutchinson County Museum keeps the colorful history of Hutchinson County alive. We share the story of Coronado who traveled through the Texas Panhandle about 1 mile from the museum; we have artfacts and scale models of buildings from the Battle of Adobe Walls and up through the founding of the county in 1901 and beyond. We have extensive artifacts and detailed exhibits on the oil boom days when Borger was known as "boogertown" with murders daily including the murder of the town' s founder and the murder of a District Attorney attempting to clean up the corruption. We offer a fun and interesting walking tour of the downtown area where most of the action took place. It's all within about 1/4 of a mile from the museum.

The Battle of Adobe Walls, a pivotal battle in the Red River War was fought in Hutchinson County. Special tours can be arranged to visit the site which is located on private land.

The museum is growing and has a vision to save historical buildings in downtown Borger. This will be accomplished through collaboration with City and County officials and TXDOT TEA 21 grants. The buildings will provide additional exhibit areas to show more of the artifacts in our collection and tell the stories of our County and City.

History

The museum was opened in 1977 in a former boomtown hardware store and second floor hotel which was donated by the Yiantsu family. The museum has grown and expanded taking over the next building to the North. The buildings have been joined to make a large two story museum. The building has a state historical subject marker.

In later years the Domino Hall and Taxi Stand were donated. Those buildings are on the museums contiguous property and are unrestored.

The museum started with one part time exhibit designer who later became the director and many volunteers. Hutchinson County took ownership of the museum and is the major funding source.

We are currently pursuing accreditation.

Artifacts Collections

The museums collections include two and three dimensional objects pertaining to the history of Hutchinson County with emphasis on the oil boom and oil industry, Adobe Walls, Red River War, Native American groups and county pioneers. The museum is a historic building with a state historical subject marker. We have a 1940's steel cable tool oil drilling rig located across the street from the museum and an unrestored domino hall and taxi stand on the contiguous property.

Research Collections

All burials in Hutchinson County are documented in a bound book that was revised in 2000. We also have census records from the County as well as early city directories and and business directories. We are compiling a detailed history book that will be available in March, 2002.

We have an extensive archives with information pertaining to the history of Hutchinson County.

Library

Library is open to the public by appointment only
Appointment required: False

Services




Publications

We publish a newsletter twice a year as funds become available.

Facilities

14,644 total square feet with 6, 644 sq ft devoted to exhibit area; lecture hall with a capacity of 100. Facility is wheelchair accessible

Programs

We provide a variety of programs for all age groups, interest levels and time available. Programs can be provided inhouse as well as trunk programs taken to groups. Currently most of our trunk programs focus on Native American culture. Others are planned.

We offer Sunday afternoon workshops several times throughout the year. In July we host a month long quilt show. 2001 is the 20th Annual Quilt show believed to be the longest running quilt show in Texas. Other events are featured throughout the year.

Staff

Lynn Hopkins, Administrative Assistant

Edward Benz, Director

Shelley Cross, Registrar


Museum Type

General
History

Governance

Type: County



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