Do you know what a museum is? A museum is a building that houses, collects and cares for

artifacts and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits. There are many

different types of museums; art, historical, maritime and children themed museums, even a zoo

is classified as a museum.

A museum is a teaching and learning tool for all ages. All museums have a mission statement.

The Heritage Museum mission statement is to preserve and collect items of historical

significance to Big Spring and West Texas and to use those items for research and education of

the area citizens.

The main floor of the museum features a new exhibit every quarter and most often highlights

one or more of the talented artists from the Howard County community.

Doc Hardy Memorial Model Railroad Upstairs to the left is the model railroad. The trains are in H-O Scale and were owned by

Woford (Doc) Hardy and were located on Main Street in a small building. The collection was

given to the museum and new space was dedicated to the mini railroad including a diorama of

Big Spring. Local artists, Linda Rupard Erwin, Jean Money, D.W. Overman, and Belle

Schooler painted the murals that complete the exhibit.

Refinery

The Refinery exhibit showcases employees and artifacts. In 1928, Josh Cosden built a 10,000

barrel refinery in Howard County. In 1930, the stock market crashed and Mr. Cosden

developed a fatal lung disease. The Cosden Petroleum Corporation was reorganized in 1937

under the direction of Raymond Tollett. Later, Cosden Corporation sold to W.D. Grace and then

to Fina and is now owned by Alon U.S.A.

The exhibit features a 1940 era service station which has been reproduced. Notice the candy and

soft drink machines inside the window.

A fiber optic mural of the refinery and a 1925 Ford Model T Ford offers a glimpse into the oil

industry’s past.

The Heritage Museum

Of Big Spring

Phonographs The museum’s extensive collection of early phonographs and gramophones were donated by

Woford Hardy and almost half of them are in working condition. The collection includes one of

the earliest phonographs for recording and reproducing sound. It used wax cylinders designed

by Thomas Edison. The museum has 200 of the cylinders. They’re about the size of a soda can

and were sold beginning in 1889.

The gramophone appeared in 1894 and quickly replaced the original phonograph. It used disks

made of celluloid, called “plates” and later “records.” Initially powered by hand, gramophones

(which most people today call phonographs) came to dominate the recorded music industry for

almost 100 years, until they were overtaken by compact disc players in the 1980’s.

The domino collection belonged to George McAlister, a former Mathematics instructor at

Howard College. Mr. McAlister was an author, inventor, (five patents), an oilman, realtor,

rancher, Marine, and President of three corporations. Sharing wall space with the dominos is

Mr. Adrian Randle’s Southwest collection which includes a squash blossom necklace and

Navajo rugs.

Dolls, Dolls, Dolls!

In 1994, the Heritage museum acquired a large collection of vintage dolls from the Terrazas

family. Madame Alexander dolls (company founded in 1923), Peggy Nesbitt dolls (from a mail

order company in England) along with several character, porcelain, composition, plastic and

cloth dolls make up the collection. Composition martinets of Snow White and the seven dwarfs

(circa 1930’s) are displayed along with the Star Trek crew, the Waltons, Cher, Farrah Fawcett,

Barbie’s family, Shirley Temple, Prince Charles and Princess Diana, and Donny and Maria

Osmond.

The beautiful vintage cases used to house the dolls, belonged to a local pioneer jewelry store

and were later used in the Terrazas doll museum.

Cast a shadow in the jungle! Behind the doll exhibit lies the “Jungle Room” where you can experience the wilds of the

jungle in West Texas. A frozen shadow can be transformed onto the green wall by pushing the

Honey, just one more game

and we are going to quit!

button on the right and waiting for the ten second count down. A bright light will flash and your

“silly” shadow will be transformed onto the wall.

T&P Railroad The town of Big Spring was essentially founded around the railroad. In 1881, Jay Gould,

president of the T&P, pushed the railroad westward from Fort Worth to El Paso. The Indians

called the train “Iron Horse” and it opened the west to settlement and development in the 19th

century. The T&P video, produced by Tumbleweed Smith plays continuously in the exhibit

along with a montage of vintage railroad photographs. A collection of signal lights, lamps,

tools, hats, locks and oil cans make up the exhibit. The T&P rock sign is prominently displayed

and was formerly part of the old Freight station.

Settles Hotel The chandelier formerly hung in the lobby of the Settles Hotel in 1929. It hangs above the

Settles phone booth and will be returned to it’s former home upon the completion of the hotel’s

renovations.

Once you pass through the west doorway onto the carpeted area, you have entered into the

former home of Dora Roberts. On the left side are two surreys. These once served as a mode

of transportation for the pioneer, however travel was treacherous. There was little protection

from the elements and weather. Pioneers had to endure, rain, sleet, snow, sandstorms, and poor

roads. Hitching posts were made available in front of stores and schools and a water trough

could be found on Main Street by the Court House. A large photograph of Big Spring shows

what the town looked like in 1882-84 with wooden sidewalks, clapboard buildings and dusty

streets. By the 1890’s, Big Spring had thirteen saloons. A saloon was a place that the cowboys

would visit for their “refreshments.” Often, the cowboy would drink too much whiskey and beer

and would start to fight one another. The bartenders tried to persuade the mischievous cowboy

to check his gun in at the bar, but few did. Instead, several of those honory cowpokes would

shoot out the back mirrors and the lights, after too many 10 cent beers. Usually, the next

morning, the cowboy would become remorseful and with hat in hand, agreed to pick up the tab

for the damages.

In 1903, Sheriff J.A. Baggett was involved in one of Big Spring’s “shoot outs” with a bad guy.

The “bad guy” was Ed Wheat and he refused to stop his unscrupulous behavior. Sheriff Baggett

Big Spring -

In The

Beginning

met him on Main Street where they had their shoot out. Sheriff Baggett prevailed and Mr.

Wheat was taken to Mount Olive Cemetery and laid to rest.

J.&W. Fisher Store Long before Wal-Mart, the J.& W. Fisher store was owned by Joseph and William Fisher. It

was originally housed in a tent by the spring. The store became known as the “Store that has

everything” throughout West Texas and New Mexico. It was located directly across from the

railroad. Car loads of merchandise could be shipped in and sold to the ranchers who would

send teams into town to pick up supplies. The store, which had a safe, also served as the first

bank, cashing paychecks for all the ranch hands and railroad workers.

Pioneers of Medicine As soon as the T&P rolled into Big Spring the town developed a need for doctors. The first

physician to enter private practice in Big Spring was Dr. J.C. Anglin. “He had a scar on his lip,

mark of an arrow would received in an Indian fight long before his coming to Big Spring.”

wrote John Hutto.

Many of the local doctors are represented in the medical exhibit including Drs. Barnett, Hurt,

Hall, Bennett, Sanders, True, Thomas, and Bennett-Worthy. A room has been set up to

represent a hospital room in the “Medical Arts Hosptial.” These items were donated by the

Sanders family. Several medicines and medical bags, used by the early day physicians, are on

display including some of the un-used medicines.

Blacksmith Shop Among the fundamental requirements of the blacksmith was that he be able to shoe a horse.

Blacksmiths had to shape and straighten pins and U-bolts, and on occasions, became carpenters

in replacing or mending the wooden parts of wagons. Indeed, it was the blacksmith, along with

the general merchandiser and the harness and saddle maker, who kept the country going.

Patricia McCormick One of the first female bullfighters was local Patricia McCormick. Patricia fell in love with the

sport of bull fighting as a young girl in Big Spring. She participated in over 300 fights during a

ten year span. She was featured in the March 1963 issue of Sports Illustrated and she wrote her

autobiography titled “Lady Bullfighter” as she recuperated from a nearly fatal goring from a

bull. Tumbleweed Smith won a highly prestigious Telly award for his documentary that

continually plays in the exhibit. The permanent exhibit was made possible by a sizable

donation made by a fan.

Longhorns From Texas’ open ranges and great fenced ranches, cowboys once drove herds of Longhorn

cattle northward over trails such as the Chisholm Trail to the Kansas railheads and to Montana’s

grasslands.

Ranchers realized by the early 1900s that the Texas Longhorns grew slower and were less

profitable than beefier breeds such as the Hereford and Angus.

Walking into the longhorn section of the museum, visitors can’t help but be impressed with the

imposing sets of longhorns displayed on the wall. The longest set of horns, measures 10 ½ feet,

and holds the record in the Guiness Book of World Records book. Earle A. Read and his father

started collecting the long horns in 1929 and the museum obtained the collection in the early

1980’s.

The Longhorn exhibit includes a variety of vintage saddles, guns, Native American artifacts

(found in Howard County) and several H.W. Caylor paintings.

Caylor was a local frontier artist. His paintings have a fidelity to authentic detail challenging

that of Remington or Russell and were eagerly sought by old-time cattlemen such as Colonel

C.C. Slaughter, George West, George Reynolds, and the Scharbauer brothers. In reviewing

Caylor’s work, J.Frank Dobie remarked that “….his deep appeal to men who drove up the trail,

faced blizzards, loved horses, and regarded Longhorns as a symbol for Texas itself-his deep

appeal through his art for those men marks him as important, significant, and genuine.” Caylor

first arrived in Big Spring in the 1890’s and remained here until his death in 1932. H.W.

Caylor’s art book sells for $10.00 in the gift shop.

Before exiting the Longhorn section, don’t forget to watch the movie being played in the Media

Room.

The “Big Spring” mural is located above the Native American artifacts case. The spring

represents the towns humble beginnings as settlers built a “tent city” awaiting the arrival of the

T&P railroad. Once the railroad finally arrived and began service, settlers pulled up stakes and

moved two miles north to the Sulphur Draw (Beals Creek.)

Heritage Museum of Big Spring

510 Scurry St.

Big Spring, TX 79720

(432) 267-8255

heritagemus@gmail.com

www.bigspringmuseum.com

Tuesday - Friday 8:30 to 4:00

Saturday 10:00 to 4:00