National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame
Encyclopedia
The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame is a museum and association which honors women of the American West who have displayed courage or spirit and who have distinguished themselves while exemplifying the pioneer
spirit. The facility is located in the Cultural District of Fort Worth, Texas
, USA, adjacent to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
.
, the seat of Deaf Smith County in West Texas
by Margaret Clark Formby
(1929–2003), wife of the radio broadcaster Clint Formby
. Formby sought for a larger city to take over the exhibits, and Fort Worth won the competition. Formby's husband's uncle was the Texas politician Marshall Formby
, a state senator, highway commissioner, and gubernatorial candidate.
Settler
A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally people who take up residence on land and cultivate it, as opposed to nomads...
spirit. The facility is located in the Cultural District of Fort Worth, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, USA, adjacent to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History is located on 1600 Gendy Street, Fort Worth, Texas 76107 in the city's Cultural District. It was opened in 1945 as the Fort Worth Children's Museum and moved to its current location in 1954. In 1968, the museum adopted its current name...
.
Overview
The museum was begun in the small basement of the library in HerefordHereford, Texas
Hereford is a city in Deaf Smith County, Texas, United States. The population was 14,597 at the 2000 census. It is the only incorporated Hereford in the country. It is the county seat of Deaf Smith County....
, the seat of Deaf Smith County in West Texas
West Texas
West Texas is a vernacular term applied to a region in the southwestern quadrant of the United States that primarily encompasses the arid and semi-arid lands in the western portion of the state of Texas....
by Margaret Clark Formby
Margaret Formby
Margaret Clark Formby was the daughter of southwest Texas ranchers who founded the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in the basement of the public library in Hereford in Deaf Smith County before she relocated the collection to Fort Worth.Formby was born to Fred and Mabel Clark in Van Horn...
(1929–2003), wife of the radio broadcaster Clint Formby
Clint Formby
John Clinton Formby, known as Clint Formby , was a veteran radio broadcaster called the "Old Philosopher" based in the small city of Hereford, Texas, the seat of Deaf Smith County in the Texas Panhandle. His daily broadcast ran continuously on his KPAN AM & FM country-music station since October...
. Formby sought for a larger city to take over the exhibits, and Fort Worth won the competition. Formby's husband's uncle was the Texas politician Marshall Formby
Marshall Formby
Marshall Clinton Formby, Jr. , was a Texas attorney, newspaper publisher, radio executive, and a Democratic politician who served a term in the Texas State Senate from District 30 from 1941 to 1945. He was a defender of West Texas interests and entitled a 1962 book, These Are My People...
, a state senator, highway commissioner, and gubernatorial candidate.
Inside the museum
- The Hall of Fame: Photographs, artifacts, and in-depth information on cowgirls honorees. The center of the building is an empty rotundaRotunda (architecture)A rotunda is any building with a circular ground plan, sometimes covered by a dome. It can also refer to a round room within a building . The Pantheon in Rome is a famous rotunda. A Band Rotunda is a circular bandstand, usually with a dome...
propped up by twelve Corinthian columns.
- "Kinship with the Land": a 15-minute film about the cowgirls' relationship with the land.
- Connie Reeves Discovery Corral: This is a hands-on play area for children.
- "Into the Arena": is about the cowgirls who were in the rodeo, from victories to heartaches.
- "Claiming the Spotlight": The tremendous influence of cowgirls on pop culture: from matinee idols to musicians, from television stars to the cowgirls portrayed in literature and advertising.
- JukeboxesJukeboxA jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media...
with earphonea with ten cowgirl songs, including "My Adobe Hacienda" by Louise Massey and the Westerners.
- The preceding exhibits are located on the second floor, but traveling exhibits are housed on the first floor to the right of the rotunda. Early in 2010, a cross-section of the art of Georgia O'KeeffeGeorgia O'KeeffeGeorgia Totto O'Keeffe was an American artist.Born near Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, O'Keeffe first came to the attention of the New York art community in 1916, several decades before women had gained access to art training in America’s colleges and universities, and before any of its women artists...
, was on temporary display. The short film The Spirit of the Cowgirl, narrated by Michael Martin MurpheyMichael Martin MurpheyMichael Martin Murphey is an American singer-songwriter best known for writing and performing Western music, Country music, and Popular music. A multiple Grammy nominee, Murphey has six gold albums, including Cowboy Songs, the first album of cowboy music to achieve gold status since Gunfighter...
, is also shown on the first floor.
Hall of Fame honorees
The following people have been honored:- Betty Kruse Accomazzo (1983)
- Anna Lee AldredAnna Lee AldredAnna Lee Aldred was the first woman in the United States to receive a jockey's license.She was born Anna Lee Mills in Montrose, Colorado in 1921. After officials at Agua Caliente Racetrack in Mexico were unable to find a rule that would bar women jockeys, she was given a license in 1939...
(1983) - Cornelia Ritchie Wadsworth BivinsTeel BivinsMiles Teel Bivins served as United States ambassador to Sweden between 2004 and 2006. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 21, 2004, and sworn in at Washington D.C., on May 26. He presented his credentials to King Carl XVI Gustaf in Stockholm on June 9...
(2009) - Texas Rose Bascom (1981)
- Minnie Lou BradleyMinnie Lou BradleyMinnie Lou Ottinger Bradley is the matriarch of the Bradley 3 Ranch in Childress County in the Texas Panhandle. An inductee of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, she is a trailblazer for women in the field of livestock breeding and ranch management. She is the first woman...
(2006) - Linda Burch (1980)
- Ann Lowdon CallAnn Lowdon CallAnn Lowdon Call was a horsewoman and was the 2005 AQHA Select World Champion in Pleasure Driving. She was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 2005....
(2005) - Willa CatherWilla CatherWilla Seibert Cather was an American author who achieved recognition for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains, in works such as O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, and The Song of the Lark. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours , a novel set during World War I...
(1986) - Patsy ClinePatsy ClinePatsy Cline , born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Gore, Virginia, was an American country music singer who enjoyed pop music crossover success during the era of the Nashville sound in the early 1960s...
(1994) - Gail DavisGail DavisGail Davis was an American actress, best known for her starring role as Annie Oakley in the 1950s television Western series Annie Oakley.-Life and career:...
(2004) - Wantha DavisWantha DavisWantha Davis is a pioneering American female jockey in thoroughbred horse racing.Born Wantha Lorena Bangs near Liberal, Kansas, she married horse breeder Lendol Davis. After graduating from High School, Ms. Bangs rode a freight train to Texas where she found work in the stables at a thoroughbred...
(2004) - Margaret FormbyMargaret FormbyMargaret Clark Formby was the daughter of southwest Texas ranchers who founded the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in the basement of the public library in Hereford in Deaf Smith County before she relocated the collection to Fort Worth.Formby was born to Fred and Mabel Clark in Van Horn...
(1994) - Glenna GoodacreGlenna GoodacreGlenna Maxey Goodacre is a sculptor well known for having designed the obverse of the Sacagawea dollar that entered circulation in the United States in 2000...
(2003) - Mary Ann Dyer "Molly" GoodnightCharles GoodnightCharles Goodnight, also known as Charlie Goodnight , was a cattle rancher in the American West, perhaps the best known rancher in Texas. He is sometimes known as the "father of the Texas Panhandle." Essayist and historian J...
(1991) - Ann Seacrest Hanson (2003)
- Caroline Lake Quiner IngallsCaroline IngallsCaroline Ingalls, born Caroline Lake Quiner was the mother of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House books.-Biography:...
(1984) - Martha JoseyMartha JoseyMartha Josey is a profesional barrel racer who has been in active rodeo competition since 1964. She has earned numerous titles at competitions such as the National Finals Rodeo and events sanctioned by the National Barrel Horse Association , and Women's Professional Rodeo Association...
(1985) - Enid JustinEnid JustinEnid Justin , a native of Montague County, Texas, founded the Nocona Boot Company in the small community of Nocona, Texas.-Family life:...
(1978) - Elaine Kramer (2005)
- Rose Wilder LaneRose Wilder LaneRose Wilder Lane was an American journalist, travel writer, novelist, and political theorist...
(1984) - Tad Lucas (1978)
- Wilma MankillerWilma MankillerWilma Pearl Mankiller was the first female Chief of the Cherokee Nation. She served as principal chief for ten years from 1985 to 1995.-Early life:...
(1994) - Anne W. Marion (2005)
- Bonnie McCarrollBonnie McCarrollBonnie McCarroll, born Mary Ellen "Dot" Treadwell , was a champion rodeo performer and bronc rider most remembered for her tragic death at the Pendleton Round-up in Pendleton, Oregon. She also excelled in steer riding, bulldogging, and automobile jumping...
(2006) - Patsy MontanaPatsy MontanaRuby Rose Blevins , known professionally as Patsy Montana, was an American country music singer-songwriter and the first female country performer to have a million-selling single...
(1987) - Esther Hobart MorrisEsther Hobart MorrisEsther Hobart Morris , a Tioga County, New York native, distinguished herself as the first female Justice of the Peace in the United States. A mother of three boys, she began her tenure as justice in South Pass City, Wyoming, on February 14, 1870, and served a term of less than nine months...
(2006) - Annie OakleyAnnie OakleyAnnie Oakley , born Phoebe Ann Mosey, was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Oakley's amazing talent and timely rise to fame led to a starring role in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, which propelled her to become the first American female superstar.Oakley's most famous trick is perhaps...
- Sandra Day O'ConnorSandra Day O'ConnorSandra Day O'Connor is an American jurist who was the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States. She served as an Associate Justice from 1981 until her retirement from the Court in 2006. O'Connor was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981...
(2002) - Alice Greenough OrrAlice Greenough OrrAlice Greenough Orr , a rancher’s daughter in Montana, became an internationally known rodeo performer and organizer who was inducted into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas, and in 2010 the...
(1975) - Margaret Owens (1976)
- Cynthia Ann ParkerCynthia Ann ParkerCynthia Ann Parker, or Naduah , was an American woman of old colonial stock of Scots-Irish descent who was captured and kidnapped at the age of nine by a American Indian band which massacred her family and...
(1998) - Lulu Bell Parr (2005)
- Ruth RoachRuth RoachRuth Scantlin, later Ruth Scantlin Roach, later Ruth Scantlin Roach Salmon , was a professional bronc rider, and world champion rodeo performer. Her 24-year career began in 1914 and ended in 1938, when she retired from the rodeo and started a ranching business in Nocona, Texas, with her husband,...
(1989) - Dale Evans Rogers
- SacagaweaSacagaweaSacagawea ; was a Lemhi Shoshone woman, who accompanied the Lewis and Clark Expedition, acting as an interpreter and guide, in their exploration of the Western United States...
(1976) - Georgie Sicking (1989)
- Velda Tindall Smith (2003)
- Carrie Ingalls Swanzey (1984)
- Sheila VarianSheila VarianSheila Varian is a breeder of Arabian horses who lives and works at the Varian Arabians Ranch near Arroyo Grande, California. She grew up with a strong interest in horses, and was mentored in horsemanship by Mary "Sid" Spencer, a local rancher and Morgan horse breeder who also introduced Varian to...
(2003) - Laura Ingalls WilderLaura Ingalls WilderLaura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder was an American author who wrote the Little House series of books based on her childhood in a pioneer family...
(1984) - Jan YourenJan YourenJan Youren is a female rodeo rider. She has been inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1993. She won her first prize at the age of 11, in one of Idaho’s first rodeos for women...
(1993)