Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum The largest history museum in Texas, founded in 1932. (Currently closed.)
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This one-ton 1924 International Harvester Truck was built to withstand heavy use and became a common sight on local oil ...
09/01/2026

This one-ton 1924 International Harvester Truck was built to withstand heavy use and became a common sight on local oil fields during the Texas Panhandle's petroleum boom in the 1920s. Vehicles like this one hauled supplies, building materials, equipment and workers as motorized trucks began to replace wagons and teams. It could reach 25 miles an hour.

Donald Webb owned and restored this particular truck prior to 1975. After that, Ira L. Loftin, vice president of the First National Bank in Canyon, acquired the truck and used it to advertise the bank in parades. When Loftin donated this truck to the Panhandle-Plains Historical Society in 1983, it was driven to the museum under its own power.

08/31/2026

CANYON, Texas — A collection of works on a universal medium is on view now in a collaborative exhibition in West Texas A&M University’s Dord Fitz Formal Art Gallery.

That's a lot of teeth for a former resident of Potter County. This phytosaur skull is one of our favorite fossils, and n...
08/28/2026

That's a lot of teeth for a former resident of Potter County. This phytosaur skull is one of our favorite fossils, and not just because it was discovered here in the Texas Panhandle. From the late Triassic period (more than 200 million years ago), these crocodile-like reptiles would have reached up to 25 feet long.

They feasted on fish and other animals in streams and lakes. Phytosaurs were the dominant, apex predators of their freshwater ecosystems, living in what was then a lush, densely vegetated tropical river basin.

This is the Heathkit HS-3860, a high-end laptop computer kit released in late 1989, generously donated to the PPHS colle...
08/27/2026

This is the Heathkit HS-3860, a high-end laptop computer kit released in late 1989, generously donated to the PPHS collection by Cindy Sharp as part of the Susanne and Jack Bullock Estate.

This model retailed in 1989 for a steep $5,000 and change. Its high-contrast, flourescent-backlit LCD screen was considered a major technological leap forward. It came with a nickel-cadmium battery pack that would fully charge in about two hours and give users about 2 hours and 15 minutes of run-time.

The laptop's 40MB hard drive was considered a high-capacity luxury at the time. Today, 40MB isn't even enough room to download the Facebook or Instagram app.

This photo from around 1955 shows a group of Carver High School teachers in Amarillo. Carver opened in 1947 as a combine...
08/27/2026

This photo from around 1955 shows a group of Carver High School teachers in Amarillo. Carver opened in 1947 as a combined 1st through 12-grade school for Black residents of the city living in the North Heights neighborhood. The segregated school was led by 13 teachers, many of whom taught multiple subjects.

The Civil Rights Act passed in 1964, after which local schools began taking steps to address desegregation. After the Amarillo Independent School District officially integrated in 1966, more than 100 students transferred out of Carver High School and began attending other high schools. In the spring of 1967, the AISD school board voted to close Carver High School entirely, converting it to a junior high.

This 1889 pastel painting by Frank Reaugh is called "Watering the Herd." According to the artist, it's based on a scene ...
08/25/2026

This 1889 pastel painting by Frank Reaugh is called "Watering the Herd." According to the artist, it's based on a scene he observed west of Henrietta in Clay County, Texas (a few miles outside today's Wichita Falls). "It was the last water these cattle got before they were loaded on the train for St. Louis," Reaugh once wrote about the work.

Reaugh exhibited "Watering the Herd," at the National Academy of Design in New York and lent the work to the Texas and Pacific Railway for promotional purposes.

More than 700 of Reaugh’s works are in the PPHM collection and have been displayed on a rotating basis in our Frank Reaugh gallery.

These two pistols are part of the PPHS collection but are currently on loan to the Bullock Texas State History Museum in...
08/24/2026

These two pistols are part of the PPHS collection but are currently on loan to the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin, part of that museum's exhibit about the Texas Revolution. At the top is a Spanish double-barrel pistol. The Mexican army provided long arms (muskets and rifles) to its soldiers, but many carried personal weapons like this one—an unusually short example that would fit in a jacket pocket. These were common on the Mexican frontier.

Below it is a much larger pistol made by the American gun manufacturer Simeon North in Connecticut. Prized for their quality, his pistols were the first to use interchangeable parts and standardized machining. Pistols like these were used by those fighting for Texas independence. Many of the soldiers who fought in the Texas Revolution came from other states and brought their own weapons.

Photo courtesy: Bullock Texas State History Museum

Raise your hand if you had a metal lunchbox like these! The fall semester started this week for most local schoolchildre...
08/21/2026

Raise your hand if you had a metal lunchbox like these! The fall semester started this week for most local schoolchildren. This second-floor display of Western-themed school lunchboxes always attracted attention.

Cowboys and western heroes dominated school cafeterias in the 1950s. Lunchbox subjects began to change in the 1960s to reflect broader pop-culture trends, like The Jetsons or even The Beatles. By the 1970s, popular lunchboxes included The Brady Bunch, Star Wars and the band KISS.

If you grew up in that era, what lunchbox did you carry?

In the early part of the 20th century, railroad companies retained their own police force. Often referred to as "special...
08/21/2026

In the early part of the 20th century, railroad companies retained their own police force. Often referred to as "special agents," these railroad police represented one of the largest private law enforcement forces in North America. They guarded valuable shipments, protected railroad property and investigated railroad crimes. Despite being company agents, they had full statutory law enforcement authority on railroad property—and even if a fresh pursuit took them off-property.

These particular badges belonged to Robert Gideon Sullenger, known as "Denver Bob." A long-time Amarillo peace officer, he worked for the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway from 1908 until he died in 1934.

This photo from our collection shows members of the 350th College Training Detachment (Aircrew) at what was then West Te...
08/20/2026

This photo from our collection shows members of the 350th College Training Detachment (Aircrew) at what was then West Texas State Teachers College. These WTSTC students were photographed in uniform at a 1944 party in Cousins Hall during World War II.

WT served as a military academic training site established by the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) in early 1943. It trained young aviation cadets in academics and basic physical/military training before they moved on to advanced training. During this period, hundreds of young cadets in uniform flooded the WT campus.

Address

2503 4th Avenue
Canyon, TX
79015

Opening Hours

Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

(806) 651-2244

Website

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