Texas Trail Museum
  Location within Wyoming | |
| Established | 1986 |
|---|---|
| Location | 201 West 3rd Street Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, United States |
| Type | History museum |
| Director | Anthony Sacco |
| Website | [1] |
The Texas Trail Museum was formed in 1986 by a small group of dedicated individuals, in a building which was then the Power Plant/Fire House for the Town of Pine Bluffs. It is located at the corner of 3rd and Market Streets, next to a row of majestic pines, which shade a large picnic area and a historic marker for the Texas Cattle Trail.
When first formed, needing a place to display artifacts, the Board negotiated with the Town of Pine Bluffs during the weeks leading up to the Town's centennial. On September 16, 1986, by Resolution 86-16, signed by Timothy T. Connor, Mayor and Dema Jo Gilbert, Clerk, the Town leased to the Texas Trail Museum:
"... a non-profit organization in the state of Wyoming, a building known as the 'Old Power Plant,' situated on the northwest corner of Market Street and Third Street in the Town of Pine Bluffs, Wyoming for the sum of one dollar ($1.00) per year."
Begun with only a few women's furs, dresses and hats, exhibits have since expanded to fill the building and then some. Today the museum is a 4-1/2 acre complex, which includes:
the Main Exhibition Hall,
the Agriculture and Transportation Building – made possible by the generosity of Curtis and Helen Bowser of Boulder City, NV. The Bowser family was an early homestead family near Hillsdale,
the de-commissioned Saint Mary's Catholic Church,
the Muddy Creek School (the first one-room school house in southeastern Laramie County),
the Bowser Homestead Cottage (a classic example of how early homesteaders lived),
the Union Pacific Railroad is well-represented, with a caboose, a switchman's shack and a telegraph shed,
the Brodine-Walker Boarding House, which had been run by local families who rented rooms to U.P. crewmen between assignments.
U.S. Route 30 (Lincoln Highway), the first completed paved highway linking Boston with San Francisco, runs along the north side of the museum property.
Established by a small group of dedicated individuals in 1986, the museum's mission is to preserve and restore the heritage of the Frontier crossroads area (Eastern Laramie County, Wyoming) for future generations, through displays and education.
Open from Memorial Day through Labor day, Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the Museum is located on the corner of 3rd and Market Streets in downtown Pine Bluffs, Wyoming.
The Texas Trail Museum houses the generators used to supply electricity to Pine Bluffs around the middle of the 20th century. The museum complex displays artifacts of the 1800 and 1900s.
A 1938 fire engine formerly used by the Town of Pine Bluffs, is displayed at the Texas Trail Museum.
Twin diesel engines that provided electricity for Pine Bluffs from 1937 - 1960, are displayed at the Texas Trail Museum.
Donated to the Museum in 2007, by Dr. Charles (Chuck) Reher and the Archeology Department at the U. of Wyoming, this teepee is a perfect example of the type used by American Indians who inhabited the area around Pine Bluffs a century ago. Many teepee rings have been discovered in the Bluffs south of town.
The first schoolhouse in southeastern Laramie County and a restored former Catholic Church are located at the Texas Trail Museum.
The interior of the first schoolhouse built in southeastern Laramie County is displayed at the Texas Trail Museum.
A covered wagon, saddles, bridles, and other old west necessities are on display at the Texas Trail Museum
The Brodine-Walker Boarding House, which was built in the early 1900's, housed many railroad workers and travelers.
A Union Pacific Caboose is available at the museum for touring.