Historic Exhibits Building will house dynamic, interactive and educational experience for visitors
The Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame & Museum announced Monday, April 23, that it will move to a new location in the Fort Worth Stockyards — the Historic Exhibits Building, just half a block from the current site.
Constructed in 1911, the Exhibits Building is located at 2515-2519 Rodeo Plaza, between Exchange Avenue and Stockyards Boulevard, across the street from the Cowtown Coliseum. The current facility, located in the Horse and Mule Barns, will close May 1 and reopen in June in the Exhibits Building.
As part of the move, the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame & Museum has become a 501(c) (3) public charity and is actively conducting an $8 million capital campaign to seek funding for the move and expansion, a news release announced. Before, the organization was a private foundation operated by the Hickman family of Fort Worth.
“This move has been in the planning stages for more than two years, but the upcoming development efforts by the Stockyards Heritage Revitalization Project gave us the opportunity to make it happen now,” Executive Director Julia Buswold said in the release. “We’ve enlisted the help of expert museum designers and planners to celebrate Texas cowboys and western heritage in a whole new way.”
Though the Hickman family will no longer be operating the organization, they plan to maintain a strong presence in the museum with Brenda Kostohryz, vice president of the Hickman Companies, serving as board president and chair of the capital campaign.
“My parents, Holt and Jo Hickman, relocated this museum to the Historic Stockyards in 2001 as a way to preserve our precious western heritage,” Kostohryz said in the release. “This wonderful reimagined museum will help ensure that their vision and the priceless stories of the Hall of Fame members are preserved for the benefit of future generations.”
When complete, the updated Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame & Museum will feature an immersive and interactive experience centered around the 145+ members of the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame, the wide-ranging Sterquell Wagon Collection and other noteworthy exhibits.
During development of the project, the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame & Museum will occupy a smaller footprint in the building and feature selected exhibits from the collection as well as the Jersey Lilly Photo Parlor and gift shop. During the transition, the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame and Museum will also continue to offer their portion of the children’s education program known as the Fort Worth Stockyards 4 Hours of Fun educational co-op. The program, which educates close to 30,000 children each year, showcases the history of western heritage.
“Western heritage is a huge part of the allure of Fort Worth, and the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame & Museum embodies our history and tradition,”Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price said in the release. “This museum is certain to be a popular attraction for visitors and a wonderful educational resource for children for many years to come.”