Huge crowd opens new Museum of the Big Bend

With clowns, horse soldiers, patent medicine peddlers and free refreshments, the Museum of the Big Bend highlighted the start of Sul Ross State University's 2007 fall semester.

Grand opening of the renovated museum attracted hundreds of Alpine and Big Bend area residents, along with new and returning Sul Ross students and their families. As balloons and music filled the air, free food and refreshments kept visitors well grounded. More than 1,500 hot dogs were given away, along with popcorn, snow cones, cotton candy and other refreshments.

Turnout far exceeded expectations and capped several days of featuring Sul

Ross' - and the Big Bend Region's - newest improved attraction.

Following a five-year, $4.4 million fundraising campaign, the museum returned to its original quarters and opened to the public Saturday. The previous night, a dinner and tour was held for campaign donors, and earlier in the week, the Board of Regents of the Texas State University System toured the facilities.

Regents and residents alike praised the 18,000-square foot facility, which includes a 5,000-square foot exhibit hall. The renovated Museum of the Big Bend features a scale model of a flying reptile named "MoBBy" soaring from the Lamella Trussless ceiling, and the Marty and Yana Davis Map Collection on the lower level. In between, permanent exhibits depict archaeology, ranching, 19th-century military presence, mining, commerce and other aspects of Big Bend life.

Panels made from photos by area photographer Jim Bones show the Santa

Elena Canyon on the Rio Grande, Wild Rose Pass in the Davis Mountains, Fort Davis National Historic Site and Cibolo Creek Ranch. Masons fabricated the Tall Rock Shelter, the Window in Big Bend National Park, a pioneer home and a church. The barracks of old Fort Davis and a model of a Southern Pacific Railroad car are among other exhibits, and mannequins and artifacts highlight each scene.

Videos describe Big Bend as a national park, dinosaurs of the Big Bend, the Tall Rock Shelter, Buffalo Soldiers, the Battle of Ojinaga and the region as a favorite movie site.

Local Alpine history is also depicted, with the sign and an exhibit describing the Green Café, long owned and operated by the Pete Gallego family.

"Awesome!"

"A really good mix of popular culture, science and history," and, "It has my

seal of approval," were among the praises for the Museum.

"Wow!" was the word most heard Saturday.

Then there were the gaping mouths, stares, smiles and nods of approval as area residents and visitors got their first look at the new exhibits.

One Odessa man said he drove to Alpine just to see what the museum offered, adding that he was really impressed.

Regent Trisha Pollard of Bellaire had a one-word critique - "Wonderful!" Pollard stayed over a couple of days from the regents' meeting just so she could attend the grand opening.

"I am absolutely thrilled with the turnout and level of interest that we saw yesterday," said Sul Ross President R. Vic Morgan. "The new museum will educate people of all ages and exceeds our expectation of a tool to enhance the educational mission of Sul Ross.

"I have to say that [museum director] Larry Francell did a magnificent job of taking a vision and converting it to reality. The enthusiasm I saw from the community yesterday is evidence that the new museum will continue to expand Larry's dream," Morgan said.

Francell added, "It went beyond our expectations. The response from the community was overwhelming."

Dr. Charles Matthews, TSUS chancellor, saluted a number of area residents for their contributions during Friday night's donors reception. He cited Marty and Yana Davis; Robie Golden, former Sul Ross Alumni Affairs director and chair of the Museum Support Group; State Rep. Pete P. Gallego; John Poindexter, chair of the fundraising committee; and Morgan.

"This project is not just the work and vision of Sul Ross State University,"

Matthews said. "It has been a collaborative effort involving many people in this community.

"The outcome is beyond any of our expectations and worthy of the majestic history and culture of the Big Bend."

Morgan, in turn, saluted Francell and his staff, including assistant to the director Liz Jackson and curators Mary Bridges and Matt Walters. He also praised building architect Jim Rhotenberry; Lou George, Druce Reiley and

Jeff Courtman of Museumscapes, the exhibit designers; and Jerry Yarbrough and Glenn Moreland, who built the bulk of the infrastructure for the new exhibits.

Megan Roe, creative director of Museumscapes, said, "I love, it, I love it, I love it! This is so rewarding."

"Between the museum, the Marty and Yana Davis Map Collection, the archives and the Center for Big Bend Studies, we have one of the premier collections of research tools available in the nation to help better understand the culture and heritage of the Big Bend and surrounding regions," Morgan said.

"The museum also, as you have seen, will be an exciting educational tool for the school age children of this region and indeed the state. It is a university gift to the region and will attract people from all over the world to spend a day or two learning of the history and culture of this wonderful place we call the Big Bend."

Francell, who has designed two other museums during his career, also praised the collaborative effort.

"The last week of the finish out was like an old fashioned barn raising; everyone we knew pitched in to help," he said. "That made the community response to the opening and our exhibits that much more rewarding."

For more information, contact Francell, 432-837-8145.

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Huge crowd opens new Museum of the Big Bend

With clowns, horse soldiers, patent medicine peddlers and free refreshments, the Museum of the Big Bend highlighted the start of Sul Ross State University's 2007 fall semester.

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Big Bend People / By Betse Esparza