Frontier Texas!

Frontier Texas! is a 14,000-square-foot (1,300 m²) museum of the American West in downtown Abilene, the seat of Taylor County in West Texas. The museum serves as a visitors information center for the Texas Forts Trail, one of ten Texas Historical Commission driving regions.^[1] Opened in 2004 at 625 North First Street on 6.4 acres (26,000 m²) near the Texas and Pacific Railway tracks, the museum focuses on settlers and lifestyles in the Old West. Exhibits display attacks by Indians and wolves, stampeding buffalo, a card game shootout, and a prairie thunderstorm.^[2] Visitors see depictions of buffalo hunters, Comanche warriors, explorers, and pioneers in the theatre called the "Century of Adventure", 1780-1880.^[3] The narrator in the theater is actor-artist Buck Taylor from Fort Worth.

In July 2013, the museum was featured on the syndicated anthology television series Texas Country Reporter, with host Bob Phillips. The episode focuses upon eight weather vanes in the shape of bison recently installed in the museum courtyard.^[4]

Recent exhibits

• "Women’s Art: Women’s Vision in West Texas”, April–May 2008
• "Toy Stories”, November 30, 2007 – February 25, 2008
• "Spirit of the Frontier Festival”, October 5-October 6, 2007
• "Chow Time: The Heritage of Cowboy Cooking” (partly on loan from the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth), May 5 – September 11, 2007
• "Abolitionism From Slavery to Freedom: Africans in the Americas”, February 15-April 22, 2007
• "Faith on the Frontier: Christmas and Other Early Traditions”, November 22, 2006 – January 22, 2007
• "Homeland Security: The Texas Forts Trail, Past & Present”, May – September 11, 2006
• "Christmas on the Frontier", November – December 2005. This exhibit looks at the Hispanic and German cultures of Christmas, the holiday at a frontier fort, and history and photographs of a “Cowboy Christmas ball” dating to 1885.^[5]

Museum services

The museum offers lesson plans at elementary and secondary levels for Texas and United States history .^[6] The museum publishes a quarterly newsletter called Frontier Times.^[2] There is a gift shop called the General Store that offers books, toys, housewares, and clothing.

"YouTube" visitors voted Frontier Texas! the "Best Old West Experience in Texas for 2008".^[7]

See also

• Texas Forts Trail

References

External links

• Frontier Texas! - official site

Coordinates: 32°26′58″N 99°43′43″W / 32.4495°N 99.7285°W / 32.4495; -99.7285