One of the top museums in the Texas Panhandle closed suddenly last week.
The Panhandle Plains Historical Museum in Canyon, just south of Amarillo, preserves millions of artifacts. The buildings are owned by West Texas A&M University, while the Panhandle Plains Historical Society is entrusted with the artifacts and mission.
A visit from the state fire marshal’s office in March found about a dozen violations and gave the museum a week to fix them. That didn’t happen, so the museum is closed.
What happens now? Jackie Kingston, CEO and executive editor of the Amarillo Tribune, joined Texas Standard to discuss. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: What were some of the safety problems the fire marshal’s office found at the museum?
Jackie Kingston: There were about 12 violations that we were able to confirm. Some of those [changes] were made immediately, but others are pretty extensive.
Exit stairs and landings have to be clear of combustible storage materials. The electrical system has to be evaluated. The fire partitions have to be changed. A sprinkler system has to be installed.
So these are pretty extensive and expensive upgrades that the museum has been required to do.
Yeah, expensive to say the least. They’re estimating something like $100 million? Who might pay for that?
I think that’s the question that everyone is trying to answer.
In our reporting, we’ve been able to talk with members of the Panhandle Plains Historical Society. We’ve heard from Dr. Walter Wendler, who’s the president of the university. We’ve heard from others who have said they’re all working together to talk to the Texas state Legislature to see if they can help and step in to provide these updates to the museum so the exhibits and artifacts can get back open to the public.
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It was only about five years ago the museum was at risk of closure because of reduced funding from WT. Does the museum have a sustainable funding model?
The museum draws on several different funding streams to remain open. Of course, people can buy memberships and be a part of it just as the community.
The university said it spends $1.6 million annually to support the operation of the museum and the facilities, so there is some funding going in, but that’s not the $100 million that it would cost to upgrade all of the facilities and get them back open.
Texas lawmakers from the area have bills in the state House and Senate that would allow the Texas Historical Commission to enter a contract for museum operations and management. What would that mean?
Yes, so we talked to Rep. John Smithee, whose district is 86 and includes Canyon. He grew up here. Everyone around here who you talk to knows the museum and has found memories of it.
Rep. Smithee has filed House Bill 5554. There is a sister bill in the Senate filed by Sen. Kevin Sparks, which is identical. That legislation would allow the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum, Panhandle Plains Historical Society and West Texas A&M University to be in contract with the Texas Historical Commission, so the Commission could contract with those entities to help out.
There’s no promise that they will, but this just gives them the option that if this does come up, and that is a funding stream the university and the museum could tap into, that gives them the option to do so.
