October 2022

News and Events from

The Museum of North Texas History

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MUSEUM OF NORTH TEXAS HISTORY

DIRECTOR'S LETTER

Dear Members,

It is bittersweet for me to announce that I will be leaving the Museum of North Texas History this month. My husband and I are moving closer to family.

I’ve had four fabulous years in Wichita Falls. I’d like to share a few of my favorite memories with y’all:

-Opening the Children’s Exhibit in September of 2019! It has been so much fun to watch kids (and adults) enjoy the interactive exhibit!

-MoNTH honored Ms. Arthur Bea Williams as the 2019 Legend of North Texas. I will always be in awe of how authentic and community-minded Ms. Arthur Bea was. I am so lucky that I was able to meet her during my time here.

-Working with the Wichita Falls Alliance for Arts and Culture to bring a traveling exhibit from the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum about the black and Hispanic players who played in the Negro Leagues to MoNTH in January of 2020. It closed right before the Shelter-in- Place order was issued.

-In March of 2021, we exhibit the photography of two local artists, Morgan Page and Dustin Rice, called the Bones of Texas. That project has now been turned into a book that will be published next year! I’m glad we were able to share their photography with the North Texas Community.

Those are just a few of my favorite moments . . . there are too many to list!

I ask that YOU, the members and volunteers keep supporting the Museum, especially as the board works to hire a new executive director.

Thank you for your continued support!

It has been a pleasure working with you!

Madeleine

Letter from the Board President

To those of you who I have not met, I am Tim Swagerty and currently serving you as Board President for the Museum of North Texas History.

It has been my privilege to know our executive director, Madeleine Calcote-Garcia since not long after she arrived in Wichita Falls. Before my official association with the museum, I was an attendee at several functions and had conversations with her about our common friends in the museum world and her aspirations for this museum.

In her time here at the Museum of North Texas History, she has transformed this institution from a burgeoning local history museum to an institution of regional and state recognition. Her professional museum training and high standards of institutional ethics have been evident in every aspect of her tenure with us and has set the standard for those who will follow.

It is with a great sense of personal and professional regret that that I acknowledge her resignation and departure as she leaves us to begin her new adventure with the Fort Bend Historical Association in Richmond, Texas.

We have benefitted so much from her astute maneuvering of this institution through so many phases of growth and development to become what it stands as today.

Join me in wishing her very fond farewell, acknowledgment of exemplar service here at the Museum of North Texas History and congratulations for her new position as the Executive Director at the Fort Bend Historical Association.

God speed, my friend, and may the road rise to meet you…

Respectfully,

Tim Swagerty

Board President

Museum of North Texas History

THANKS

Downtown Wichita Falls - Art Walk

Thursday, October 6th - Last ArtWalk of the Season

OPEN

5:30 pm - 9:00 pm

Real to Reel

The Wichita Falls Alliance for Arts and Culture rolled out the red carpet in September for its annual Regional Museum Network Exhibition. Real to Reel: North Texas in the Limelight showcases curated collections from 12 area museums highlighting cinematic history in the region and its impact on area communities.

This is an opportunity to explore our region’s many connections to Hollywood in one location. From famous stuntmen and actors to filming locations, historic theaters, and more, Real to Reel separates fact from fiction and explores the impact of the film industry across North Texas.

The exhibit opened Thursday, September 1st, and will run until October 8th. The exhibit is free to the public with donations accepted. "We hope the community will come out and see the cinematic history of their region."

RED CARPET RECEPTION

The reception for Real to Reel: North Texas in the Limelight took place Saturday, September 17th at the Museum of North Texas History. Guests enjoyed the delicious food and the delightful, informative exhibits.

Legends of North Texas - October 12th

Eddie Hill joins previous Legend honorees Nat Fleming,

Joe Tom White, Robert Seabury, Roby Christie,

and Arthur Bea Williams.

Eddie Hill

The Museum of North Texas History is pleased to announce the Legends of North Texas event honoring Eddie Hill, retired American drag racer, which will take place Wednesday, October 12, 2022. The event occurs at 11:30 AM at the Kemp Center for the Arts, 1300 Lamar Street, Wichita Falls, Texas.

Tickets for the luncheon are on sale now at Eventbrite and at the Museum during regular business hours. Individual tickets are $50 and tables can be purchased for $360. For more information, call the Museum at 940-322-7628.

Mr. Hill has won numerous championships on both land and water. Eddie is still the only racer to have been the yearly championship winner and fastest drag racer on both land and water. He also concurrently held speed records in both venues. Eddie has won trophies and races in nine decades from the 1940s to 2020.

“We are excited to honor Eddie Hill as the 2021-2022 Legends of North Texas. Not only has he contributed to the racing world, but he is also a fixture in Wichita Falls with his business, Eddie Hill’s Fun Cycles”, says Museum Executive Director, Madeleine Calcote-Garcia.

CLICK HERE TO BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW!

(Eddie Hill photo courtesy NHRA)

North Texas Tales - Pod Cast

NORTH TEXAS TALES - PODCAST

The Wichita County Historical Commission and the Museum of North Texas History are sharing stories of North Texas in a new way, a podcast. There are currently five episodes available. The topics are and will be, as varied as the people, places, and events of North Texas. As we post more episodes, we’ll let you know.

Do you have a topic you would like to hear about? Let us know!!

Click on the link below and give a listen.

North Texas Tales

Downtown Trick or Treat -

Saturday, October 29, 1:00-3:00 PM

MoNTH will be handing out candy and the Heart of Downtown Model Train Exhibit will be open!

We need volunteers to help for this event, if you'd like to sign up to volunteer, click HERE!

Bit of History

Each month we will highlight "bits" of North Texas history.

The Falls on the Wichita

According to Flora Kemp, when she and Joseph moved to Wichita Falls in 1883, she wondered “where are the Falls?” This has been a frequently asked question ever since.

In the book, Pioneers Remember (available at the Museum of North Texas History), the falls of Wichita Falls appear in many of the pioneers’ reminiscences. Flora Kemp recalled while living on Lee Street, she was told the roaring she heard was the falls. She later learned the roar was from the nearby railroad roundhouse. She asked to go to the falls and was told it was too far to walk. Mrs. Kemp recollected there wasn’t much “falls” to the falls.

Mart Banta, who arrived with his family in 1877, recalled a solid-rock base at the falls on the Wichita River, making for an easy crossing. He described the falls as six feet high and located above the railroad bridge.

George Washington Allard, who came through the area in 1858, recalled a falls of at least six feet with buffalo hunters camped nearby.

J. Gordon Branum described a country covered with sage grass with antelope, thousands of prairie chickens, and quail in 1881. He remembered a wagon road crossing the Wichita River near the falls.

Aaron Dodson, a Burkburnett pioneer, recalled a four-foot-tall falls just east of the Ohio Street Bridge. In an attempt to use water power, the river was dammed. Dodson described the destruction of the dam and the falls, caused by water and rocks from a “head rise” on the Wichita River.

Mrs. R. C. Pinkerton described seeing the falls and riding the ferry across the Wichita River. She knew Mr. and Mrs. John Shannon, who originally dammed the river.

The falls, destroyed in the late 1880s, did not return to Wichita Falls until 1987, thanks to the successful campaign initiated by the Wichita Falls Streams and Valleys Association that produced the falls we know today.

UPCOMING EXHIBITS

Lone Star and Eagle:

German Immigration to Texas

The Museum of North Texas History is proud to present the Humanities Texas exhibit, "Lone Star and Eagle: German Immigration To Texas."

In the 1840s, German immigrants began settling at New Braunfels, Fredericksburg, Sisterdale, and other locations in Central Texas, imparting a distinctive character to these communities. This Humanities Texas traveling exhibition features reproductions of archival photographs, newspaper headlines, maps, and paintings that tell the story of a people remarkable for the individual and communal industry in setting down roots and adapting ways of the old country to life in a new world.

The exhibit continues through October 14th.

Photo courtesy of Humanities Texas

Arriving in Texas in 1882, Karl Emil Bauch came from Saxony in Germany and settled in Waco. Trained as a harness maker’s helper, Karl opened his harness shop in 1886 in Hillsboro. Coming to Wichita Falls in 1889, Karl opened a harness shop on Seventh Street, later moving to a location on Indiana Street.

See the translation of this letter, provided by Dr. Lee Gagum, Assistant Professor of German at Midwestern State University-Texas.

100^th Anniversary of MIDWESTERN STATE UNIVERSITY-TEXAS

Wichita Falls Junior College opened in September 1922, the second municipal junior college in Texas. It was operated by the Wichita Falls Independent School District and superintendent Randolph Lee Clark. Its liberal arts curriculum drew fifty-five freshmen that fall. Classes met in the high school on Broad Street. What a change 100 years brings!

(Photo from MSU Texas; Text from Texas State History Online)

Trains Arriving at MoNTH "Station"

The wonderful train exhibit, designed, constructed, and maintained by museum volunteer Ron Mauch, grows daily in the Ralph Harvey Exhibit Hall at the Museum of North Texas History. We will soon announce an official opening date.