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 Fannin County Museum of History |
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Fannin County Museum of History
is housed
in the 1900
Texas and Pacific Railway Depot.
It is also a recorded
Texas
Historical Landmark and is on the
National Register of
Historical Places.
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Fannin County Museum of History picks up the story of Fannin County
shortly before the Texas Revolution when Dr. Daniel Rowlett introduced the
first twelve families as permanent settlers to the area. It continues
through the uncertain years of the Republic of Texas, to the Civil War
era, through arrival of the railroad and the tumultuous beginning of a new
century, the jazz age, and two world wars. All of this housed in the
restored 1900 Texas and Pacific Railway depot.
Prehistoric Fannin County is represented by a small but important
collection of fossils. The Sulphur River Valley today still yields
prehistoric remains for the collector. Early Native American artifacts are
also represented in the museum.
As might be expected from a museum housed in a train depot, items
relating to the first railroad to be built in the area, the Texas and
Pacific, are housed in a room devoted to the arrival of the iron horse in
1873.
History of an area is so often reflected in the clothing worn by its
citizens. In permanent and changing exhibits the museum presents an array
of clothing dating from an 1858 "second-day wedding dress", to
an elegant Victorian ball gown, or an art deco inspired flapper dress.
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A
Venetian lace veil Topped
this
art deco gown |
Changes in communication and education are reflected with exhibits of a
telephone switchboard, a radio collection, and a rural schoolroom.
A mini Fire museum centers around a restored 1918 American LaFrance
fire truck with vintage fire fighting attire. The most recent exhibit
"Bonham in the War" details Bonham's part in the war effort with
the recreation of a section of the Jones Field pilot training base at the
municipal airport. The most popular item in this exhibit is the restored
blue and yellow Fairchild PT-19 airplane.
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