Museum of the Big Bend

The Museum of the Big Bend began with a historical society. In December 1925 people in Alpine organized the Trans-Pecos Museum and Historical Society to study the history, folklore and natural science of the region, soon renamed the West Texas Historical and Scientific Society. Sul Ross State University, named for the Texas Ranger and governor Lawrence Sullivan Ross, had opened in Alpine in 1920, and the museum has stayed tied to it ever since.

In 1936 the Texas Centennial Commission and the Works Progress Administration paid for a museum building on the campus. Victor J. Smith, a professor of industrial arts, self-taught architect and amateur archaeologist, designed it and oversaw the work, and former governor Pat Neff dedicated the native rock building on May 1, 1937. It served until 1966. The collections then passed to the university and moved around the campus, to a former bowling alley and later to Lawrence Hall, reopening in 1969 as the Museum of the Big Bend. A $3.3 million campaign restored the original stone building, and the museum moved back into it in 2007.

Its mission is to collect and explain the cultural, historic and natural materials of the Big Bend of Texas and northern Mexico, with attention to the region's mix of cultures, from prehistory to the ranching and mining years. Exhibits, events and workshops change through the year; call 432-837-8730 or check the museum's site for hours and fees. The museum's shop is the Big Bend Trading Company.