One of our most underappreciated cultural centers in San Antonio is our museum of natural history - The Witte Museum.
Located adjacent to Breckenridge Park (on Broadway street) this treasure of a museum began as a vision of Ellen Schultz somewhere around 1923. Ms. Schultz wanted to retain the significant H P Attwater natural history collection for our community. A project in which she was eventually successful. So she, and several prominent community members banded together with then Mayor Tobin and formed the San Antonio Museum Associaton. In 1925 a well known San Antonio business man, Alfred Witte, died and bequeathed the sum of $ 65,000. to build a museum in Brackenridge Park. With those funds the Witte Museum was constructed and opened on Oct. 8th, 1026.
Ms. Schultz took on the task of administration working diligently and the Witte grew rapidly in the 1920's and 1930's. The Witte building housed the museum, the San Antonio Art League and the San Antonio Conservation League during that time. Also, during the 1930's the Witte opened the Reptile Gardens which were a big hit and provided a steady stream of income for the museum for a number of years.
The 1960's brought a major expansion of the Witte in size and with the addition of several important sections including the McFarlin Jewel Room in 61, the Piper Wing in 62, and the Lone Star Hall of Wildlife and Ecology. The Witte continued flourishing and growing during the 1970's and 80's.
In 1989 the San Antonio Museum Association which was composed of the Witte and the San Antonio Art Museum were separated with the Witte focusing on natural history. For a few years I personally thought the Witte seemed to lose its drive but in came the 1990's and the museum seemed to rejuvenate and renew itself and its drive, its purpose and focus. In 1997 the HEB Science Treehouse opened and in 2014 the HEB Rocky Adventure replaced it. The B Naylor Research and Collections Center opened in 2014. In 2016 the Mays Family Center for Exhibitions and Special Events and the Zachary Family Acequia Garden are both scheduled to open. For 2017 new projects scheduled to make their appearance are the HEB Lantern, the Dinosaur Hall, the McLean Texas Wild Gallery, and the Kattie Ferguson People of the Pecos Gallery.So you can see that the Witte is a happening place.
Collections housed at the Witte include
The Texas History Collection, The American History Collection, the Texas Art Collection, the Natural History Collection, the Archives Collection, the Anthropology Collection, the Military History Collection, and the World History Collection.
Past Exhibitions held at the Witte include Dinosaurs, Alien Worlds, artist Julian Onderdonk, Faberage, and so many others I can not remember.
So, hopefully you can see why the Witte is an Alamo City treasure that both locals and tourists can appreciate.
Clark Niblock
210 416 5940
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