Garza County (Texas) Historical Museum

The Garza County Historical Museum is a two-story former sanitarium in Post, Texas

The Garza County Historical Museum houses a large collection of mostly ranch, cowboy, Native Americans, and pioneer artifacts located in a 1912 two-story colonial-style building of twenty-six rooms and hallways in Post, Texas, a community of more than five thousand residents located forty-one miles south of Lubbock. Post was established by and named for the cereal magnate Charles William "C. W." Post (1854-1914).

About the museum[edit]

The museum is located at 119 North Avenue N to the right rear of the county courthouse. A virtual time capsule, the museum has room settings, period furnishings, a frontier chapel interior,^[1] and some local political memorabilia, including materials from the career of E L Short of Tahoka, a former member of both houses of the state legislature based in Lynn County. Managed by Linda Gayle Vandygriff Puckett (born 1941), the facility is open without charge to the public from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturdays. The telephone is 806-495-2207.^[1]

Museum curator Linda Puckett, the author of Images of America:Garza County, Texas

The museum building was formerly a sanitarium, established by C. W. Post and the physician A. R. Ponton.^[2] Originally known as the Post Sanitarium and Nursing School, it opened its doors in 1913. It was considered the finest facility of its kind west of Fort Worth, where C. W. Post, a native of Springfield, Illinois, had lived for a time before his arrival in Post. C.W. Post purchased more than 200,000 acres in the Garza County area.^[2] Considering the former use of the building, the museum has a room which displays medical tools used in the early 1900s, including stethoscopes, glass syringes, and a wheelchair which resembles that used by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The museum illustrates from prehistoric times to today. There are fossils of mammoths and metoposaurs, which resembled giant salamanders.^[3]

Garza County is a breakaway from Borden County to the west, named for Gail Borden (1801-1874), the inventor of condensed milk who never visited the area, but the community of Gail in Borden City bear his name. The city of Post was organized and declared the county seat in 1907. C. W. Post came to the area to live, conducted experimental farming, and drilled for petroleum. The railroad came to Post in 1910. Post considered the community his "little utopia" and resided there until his death on May 9, 1914.^[2]

After the closure of the sanitarium, the building was purchased by Marshall Lee Mason, Sr. (1892-1964) and operated as the Colonial Apartments. In 1968, the Mason family donated the property to Garza County for use as a museum. The Garza County Historical Museum is a non-profit organization operating for charitable, scientific, literary, and educational purposes.^[2] Post is also home of the OS Museum, a combination of western and oriental exhibits, operated by former Mayor Giles McCrary.

In 2010, curator Linda Puckett in conjunction with the museum published Images of America: Garza County. The book is dedicated to both the pioneers who settled Garza County and to the armed services personnel who sacrifice for freedom.^[4]

The museum's Rodeo room is named for champion rider Alvin G. Davis. With his wife, Barbara A. Davis, the couple awards an annual rodeo scholarship to worthy students.

Fireplace scene at Garza County Historical Museum

Early 20th century dining room

Oil derrick exhibit at Garza County Historical Museum

Motel Post Toasties Truck at Garza County Historical Museum

The museum chapel

References[edit]