Recent News
June 2011
“State of the Museum”
Milestones met: The Museum's Esplanade Street entry, showing the Preserve America sign in foreground and historic building with completed Annex addition. [photo: Marsha Gibson]
Keeping Our Momentum Going Strong
by John Hildebrand, CTHM Board of Directors
Over the last ten years, the Board of Directors of the Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum has established a long-range plan for a first class history museum in Cuero, Texas. The board is steadily implementing this plan and the following major milestones have been recently been met:
- Completion of the seven-phase restoration master plan, including the construction of a two-story annex and rehabilitation of the former Knights of Pythias Hall.
- Completion of raw space to house museum exhibits, as well as a community meeting facility on the second floor — now ready for visitors and community use.
- Purchase of the Proctor-Green home: This historic home represents the architecture of the same period celebrated and preserved by the Museum. Additional property behind the historic building has been generously donated to the museum by Lawrence and Linda Anzaldua, providing necessary space for future expansion, outdoor exhibits and additional parking.
- Finalization of the permanent loan agreement with The University of Texas at Austin to display the Horsemen of the Americas – Tinker Collection. This collection of over 900 ranching and horse-related artifacts is generally regarded as one of the finest collections of vaquero, llanero, gaucho and cowboy objects in the world.
Progress on the Museum project is largely dependent upon funding. To date, over two and a half million dollars has been donated and spent on completion of the bricks and mortar phases of the project. Funding comes from individuals, private foundations and government grants, and regular fundraisers such as our signature, “Taste of the Trail” fundraiser and auction.
Funds are sometimes awarded for specific portions of the project, in which case the board reviews priorities in order to fully utilize the funding opportunity. We have modified the scope and nature of certain phases of the project in order to qualify for a particular grant or donation. As a general guideline the board has sought to be pragmatic and flexible in terms of project construction priorities and dollar allocation in order to fully utilize every available funding opportunity.
New Milestones for the Museum:
What's Next?
EXHIBIT DESIGN / BUILD-OUT
Our next and most important priority is the design and construction of the museum exhibits.
We have developed a museum story and Concept Plan, working with noted historians Lonn Taylor and Bruce Shackleford to reflect historical accuracy and to fully tell the story of people who worked the great cattle drives in the time just after the Civil War and until the turn of the twentieth century.
Based on this rich story line, the board opened discussion with exhibit designers from around the country. After careful review of qualifications, conceptual design and estimated costs, the board selected Drew Patterson and Pony Allen Design Studios of Austin, Texas as the design and fabrication contractor for the museum exhibits. Allen’s experience includes work with the Bob Bullock Museum in Austin, among many high profile museums. Patterson’s work includes the redesign of museum content at The Alamo’s Long Barracks in San Antonio and La Bahia, located in Goliad, Texas.
The board is now developing a funding plan for exhibits, estimated at approximately $1 million. Although the current economic environment certainly makes fundraising more challenging, we are confident that we can raise the amount needed to complete the exhibit phase of the museum project. The resulting museum content will be one of the finest in the country, accurately reflecting the ranching and cowboy heritage of the South Central region of the state of Texas.
PROCTOR-GREEN HOUSE
When complete, the restored historic (c. 1892) Proctor-Green home will provide additional space for museum administration functions and lodging accommodations. Into the bargain, the Museum will have preserved another valuable example of late Victorian (Queen Anne style) architecture and an historic asset for the community of Cuero.
OUTDOOR SPACES
The Museum plans to develop the newly acquired land around the historic building and annex as an amenity, adding outdoor green space and parking. The outdoor green space can also provide an attractive entertaining space, adding flexibility for events planning. Landscaped areas will also help set off the buildings' handsome exteriors.
June 2011
“World Class Collection”
Saddles, bridles, stirrups will be featured in upcoming exhibit in Cuero museum....
by Sonny Long – Victoria Advocate
Visitors moved slowly around the exhibits — saddles, spurs, stirrups and more — often with exclamations punctuating examination of a particularly eye-catching piece.
World-class.
That was the phrase heard most often to describe samples of the Horsemen of the Americas – Tinker collection that was recently on display for a special viewing at a membership party at The Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum in Cuero.
“This is only about 10 percent of the Collection, said Robert Oliver, museum board president. The sampling of saddles on display included one used in the movie, “The Alamo, starring John Wayne,” Oliver said.
The complete collection consists of more than 900 objects and artifacts from the United States, Mexico and South America. It includes costumes, personal items, clothing, saddles, bridles, stirrups, spurs and other ranching and horse-related gear. Victorian Joyce Raiman, a self-proclaimed transplanted “Northener”, attended the sneak preview and was impressed.
“To have a collection like that is absolutely fabulous,” she said. “It's unbelievable. I had never seen some of those things in person before. The craftsmanship on some of the leather work is simply outstanding.” Raiman also lauded the overall concept of the museum including the historic building.
“I am fascinated by the story of the Chisholm Trail,” she said. “People should be seeing and understanding what happened here.”
The museum, in the Knights of Pythias building at 302 N. Esplanade Street, which is not scheduled to officially open for at least another couple of years, will house the Tinker collection on permanent loan from the University of Texas at Austin.
Negotiations to obtain the collection took about seven years, Oliver said.
The Cuero museum obtaining the collection has not gone unnoticed. “The Tinker Collection is the most significant collection of cowboy gear in the United States, representing traditions not only of North American cowboys but of the horsemen of Mexico and South America,” said Lonn Taylor, retired Smithsonian historian at the National Museum of American history.
“The fact that the University of Texas has entrusted the Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum in Cuero with this collection is an overwhelming vote of confidence for the Museum. The Tinker Collection's presence will make Cuero and The Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum an international center for the study and appreciation of horsemen of the Americas.”
ABOUT THE MUSEUM
An author and philanthropist, Edward Larocque Tinker (1881-1968) became keenly interested in international relations, particularly between the United States and its neighbors in Central and South America.
Tinker became deeply impressed by the fundamental likeness between the cattle-horsemen of this hemisphere, which included the gaucho of Argentina and Uruguay, the huasso of Chile, the chalan of Peru, the gaoucho of Brazil, the llanero of Venezuela, the vaquero of Mexico, and the cowboy of the United States and Canada.
Tinker amassed the collection with the idea that, “it might, by materializing a striking international similarity, fire the imaginations of the succeeding generations to learn more about their neighbors to the South,” according to the museum website.
“This is a fabled collection that you really can't put a value on, multi-million dollar for sure,” said design consultant Drew Patterson. “It's a fabulous collection.”
Donated to The University of Texas in the late 1950's, the collection had been in storage for decades, and it has never been exhibited in its entirety, said Patterson. “This is a collection that the Smithsonian, any institution around the nation, would be thrilled to get. It's stunning. It's world-class. The artifacts are dazzling to look at. It's a real thrill to get to work with it and it's a great lead-in to the story being told here.”
MORE THAN TINKER
The museum will, of course, include more than the Tinker Collection. “Unless we developed a project that was sizable in magnitude and importance, it really wasn't worth pursuing at all,” said Oliver. Interpretive exhibits will enhance the role of the Texas cowboy in American society.
“The assets we have to work with are tremendous,” said Patterson. “It's about cattle, it's about the development of ranching. It's an important time in Texas history.” Patterson emphasized that the Chisholm Trail does indeed have its origins in Cuero.
“I like to think of it like a tree. It did come to a head north of town here. It's well documented. That's where it shaped up and formed-up as a trail,” he said.
From the history of the Texas cowboy and the Longhorn come the time-honored lessons of hard work, individual self-determination and the pioneer spirit; ideals still meaningful and relevant today, according to the museum's website.
Summer 2010
Round-Up
“Museum Secures the World-Class Tinker Collection”
After approximately seven years of negotiations, the Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum has entered into a loan agreement with the University of Texas at Austin to permanently exhibit the prestigious Horsemen of the Americas–Tinker Collection.
The collection, which consists of approximately 900 objects and artifacts from the United States, Mexico and South America, was given to the University of Texas in the late 1950s by Dr. Edward Larocque Tinker. It includes costumes, personal items, clothing, saddles, bridles, stirrups, spurs, and other ranching and horse–related gear.
Summer 2009
Round-Up
“Building the Dream: It's Real!”
An overcast day in April 2009 turned out to be the perfect day to pour the foundation for the CTHM’s annex addition. In the hours just before daylight, cement trucks and a crew of ten workers arrived to take on the task of pouring the cement footers and slab. In spite of pending showers throughout the day, the job proceeded on schedule and wrapped up on time. For all those who have worked so hard to bring the Museum project along to this point, it was truly a milestone moment.
Since these photos were taken [see further photos in newsletter], the walls of the Annex are up and the structure’s steel joists are in place. A steel fire-egress stairwell has been erected and rough-in plumbing for visitor’s restrooms on both floors is now complete. Masonry and plaster craftsmen have given the Annex’ exterior walls a finished look, complete with cornice and handsome architectural detail on the building’s east-facing façade. The concrete and steel second floor was poured in early July, while the roof was poured Wednesday, July 15th.
Fall 2007
Round-Up
“Senator Hutchison Secures Department of Interior Appropriations for Museum”
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced earlier this summer that the committee approved the FY2008 Department of Interior Appropriations bill, which includes $350,000 Senator Hutchison secured for the Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum. These appropriations, which were awarded to the organization as “matching funds,” are earmarked for the restoration of the historic second floor spaces of the former Knights of Pythias Hall and will be administered through Save America’s Treasures, a federal program established in 1998.
Community Meeting Spaces an Important Amenity
The second floor of the Hall was designed for the ceremonial and recreational needs of the Knights of Pythias organization, who constructed the Romanesque Revival building in Cuero in 1903. Measuring approximately 5,000 square feet, the upper floor was designed with several large spaces, including the organization's meeting, recreation and dining rooms. Once restored, the board of directors of the CTHM envisions the upstairs spaces to be utilized as multi-purpose community facilities. Meetings, lectures, small conferences, continuing education classes, traveling exhibits, and children's summer camps, for example, can be accommodated on the upper floor; these are community needs that are currently not met.
Fall 2007
Round-Up
“Ruben Hinojosa Issues News Release: EDA Awards Museum $1 Million Grant”
U.S. Congressman Ruben Hinojosa
The Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum received a shot in the arm this summer, with the announcement that the project has been awarded a $1 million grant from the Economic Development Administration.
U.S. Congressman Ruben Hinojosa (Democrat, Mercedes), issued a news release making the announcement in June 2007.
The grant funds will support the renovation of the historic building that will house the Museum, gift shop, research library and community facilities, and construction of a new two-story building adjacent to the original building.
Fri., July 6, 2007
The Victoria Advocate
Editorial – “Cuero might be getting its own ‘Alamo’”
What would the town of San Antonio be like without the Alamo? San Antonio might be known for its River Walk, the Alamo Dome, maybe its rich culture, but without that historic structure, it would be like so many other large cities that have something to offer, but maybe not uniqueness.
Cities like Victoria, Beeville, Goliad, Gonzales and Cuero have beautiful castle-like county courthouses that draw people from all over. These courthouses are unique and have been featured in books distributed nationwide.
Now Cuero is able to develop its own "Alamo” of sorts.
Thu., July 5, 2007
The Victoria Advocate
“Chisholm Trail museum gets big boost from $1 million grant”
Money will go toward renovation and construction of a new building
by Sonny Long – Victoria Advocate
The Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum in Cuero will be housed in the historic Knights of Pythias Hall on Esplanade Street. It was announced Monday that the project would receive a $1 million federal grant. [photo: Sonny Long, Victoria Advocate]
CUERO – The Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum got a shot in the arm Monday, with the announcement the project has been awarded a $1 million grant from the Economic Development Administration.
The grant funds will support the renovation of the historical building that will house the museum and construction of a new two-story building adjacent to the facility that will feature a library, visitors' center and gift shop.
U.S. Congressman Ruben Hinojosa, D-Mercedes, issued a news release making the announcement.
Mon., April 30, 2007
Press Release
“Chisholm Museum Awarded Multiple Awards for Capital Campaign Materials”
The Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum recently received the highest award possible from the Texas Association of Museums (TAM) for its design of capital campaign materials at the state museum conference held in Austin, Texas. The capital campaign materials, "Blazing New Trails,” designed by Jenny McChesney / Zeitgraph Graphic Design Firm of San Antonio took a gold merit award, matching the achievement of other select museums in the state such as the Blanton Art Museum, Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, Fort Worth Museum of Science & History, Museum of the Big Bend, Witte Museum and Houston Museum of Natural Science. The recognition, awarded at TAM's Closing Awards Luncheon, drew judges' remarks such as "clever, intriguing, and memorable.”
Fri., March 23, 2007
The Victoria Advocate
“H-E-B JOINS CHISHOLM TRAIL MUSEUM EFFORT IN CUERO”
Grocery donates $100,000 raised in two years of annual golf tourney
by Sonny Long - Victoria Advocate
CUERO – H-E-B, which has been selling groceries in Texas for more than 100 years, has donated $100,000 to the Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum in Cuero.
In a recent ceremony at the museum, H-E-B representatives Shelley Parks, public affairs manager from Corpus Christi and Mike Martignoni, Cuero store manager, presented the $100,000 check to Robert Oliver, chairman of the museum board of directors.
Wed., February 7, 2007
The Cuero Record
“CHISHOLM TRAIL MUSEUM EARNS GRANT”
For the second time in as many years, The Texas Historical Foundation has awarded the Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum a grant which provides funding for architectural planning. The $5,000 grant was awarded for the creation of construction documents necessary to implement Phases III and IV of the organization's seven-phase master plan for restoring the historic Knights of Pythias Hall, developed by preservation architect David Hoffman.