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Ellis County Museum, Inc. Waxahachie, Texas This site contains historical information and links for Ellis County, its communities, and other items of local historical interest. It is constantly being updated so check back regularly for new additions and information.
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Updates Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) County Communities People Structures
Schools & Education
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Miscellaneous Governing Documents & Policies
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The Ellis County Museum, Inc. is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the history of Ellis County. It was organized in 1968 by local citizens to serve as a repository for materials contributing to the historical interpretation of the county. The museum is housed in an 1889 structure located in downtown Waxahachie across the street from the Ellis County Courthouse. Museum hours are: Monday - Saturday, 10:00am - 5:00pm and Sunday, 1:00pm - 5:00pm. Museum Membership Join the Ellis County Museum. Benefits of membership are: Museum newsletter, private previews for new exhibits, invitations to special events and lectures, exhibition announcements mailed to your home, 10% discount on gift shop items, and the general support of local history. Annual dues amounts are: Individual, $15; Family, $25; "Super" Family, $50; Patron, $100; Sponsor, $200; Advocate, $500; Benefactor (lifetime), $1000; Business/Organization, $50 -$100. Our Mission The purposes of the Ellis County Museum are (1) to collect, preserve, and interpret artifacts and information on the scientific, technological, artistic, social, political, educational, natural, economic, and cultural history of Ellis County; (2) to make Museum holdings and information accessible to the public by means of publication and exhibition; (3) and to engage in and to encourage others to engage in study and educational use of Museum holdings and collections. Museum Happenings, Events, Exhibits Brown Bag Speaker Series The Ellis County Museum restarted its Brown Bag speaker series in
September of 2009. This series features county residents speaking on local history and other topics of local interest. The event takes place the last Thursday of the month from 12 - 1 PM at the Ellis County Museum,
201 S College St. in downtown Waxahachie. The Brown Bag lunch series takes place in September, October, January, February, March, and April. April Brown Bag Donald Locke, DDS "The Supper Quilt"
Thursday, April 25th Ellis County Museum
12:00 - 1:00 PM
This monumental pieced quilt, composed of 51,816 half-inch squares, is modeled on Leonardo deVinci's famous work, "The Last Supper" (Milan, Italy). Dr. Locke worked on it for two and a half years, first creating a computer generated image of the original, enlarged to show pixels. He then selected, cut and sorted by color the 350 different fabrics used, including some of his own hand-dyed fabric. Other hand-dyed fabrics are from Joy Press of Godley, TX. The pieces were arranged on a design wall and then sewn together in strips using a Singer Featherweight sewing machine. The quilt is 15.3 feet wide and 5.5 feet high.
After about 1200 hours of work, the emerging design became apparent. The top was then machine quilted by Linda Taylor of Melissa, TX. The machine quilting presented a new set of problems because of the size of the piece and because the image was not apparent to anyone working close to the fabric. Linda states that it was the most challenging quilting work she has ever done.
The Supper quilt was finished in 1999 and has been shown in 370 locations -- 38 states and 6 foreign countries.
For more information, please go to The Supper's website at: www.thesupper.net.
This informal lunch series is free and open to the public. Participants are encouraged to bring whatever they want to eat and drink during the event. This idea was originally conceived and organized by Ms. Julie Webb a number of years ago and has been re-initiated by Ms. Beth Price. ***
Ellis County Museum Highlights of 2011 - 2012
*** The Early History of the Texas Theater in Waxahachie *** New Display
Sesquicentennial of the Civil War The Federal Government called it the War of the Rebellion. Others called it by many other names
but most called it the Civil War and this is the 150th anniversary of its onset at Ft. Sumter. Ellis County was involved in this war on several fronts. Probably the most meaningful was
Parson’s Brigade of Confederate cavalry. This unit, organized by Col. W. H. Parsons, of men from Ellis, Dallas, Tarrant
and Hill counties patrolled the Arkansas, Louisiana and Missouri Trans-Mississippi Department to keep the Federal troops out of Texas. They were successful and the battles
of the war stayed beyond Texas borders. A number of Ellis county family names such as Rogers, Orr, Douglas, Farrar, Burleson and Hawkins are listed on the rolls of the 19th
and 20th Regiments of Confederate Cavalry which made up Parson’s Brigade. These men formed as the Ellis County Rangers before joining Parson’s Brigade on Red Oak Creek. The Ellis County Museum has mounted a display of artifacts, pictures and documents from this era to remind us of the war. We can see some idea of the events and lives of those who participated so long ago.
The Masonic Temple: A Lasting Presence This exhibit takes a detailed look at the history of the Masonic Temple building on the corner of College and Franklin Streets. Built in five months in 1889, this regal structure has anchored the southeast corner of the Courthouse Square for over 120 years. Visit the Ellis County Museum to explore this in-depth study of Block 14, Lot 1, the current site of the Ellis County Museum. Other new attractions in the Museum! Please check out the new audio additions to the Home Front and Paul Richards exhibits. Local residents recall aspects of life “at home” during World War II and Richards talks about his baseball career. Exhibits Paul Richards Professional Baseball Player and Manager *** "The Home Front" Ellis County in World War II
*** Doll & Doll Furniture Display Organized and installed by the Waxahachie Doll Club Disclaimer All information on this web site is accurate to the best of our knowledge. We have many contributors of information and can not historically verify all facts. If you find errors or conflicting information, please contact the webmaster so the appropriate changes can be made. Where sources of information are known, credit is given to the individual or group responsible for the research. If we have missed crediting a contributing entity, let us know and we will correct the error. Contact Information Telephone: 1-972-937-0681 FAX: 1-972-937-0681 Postal Address: P.O. Box 706, Waxahachie, Texas 75168 Street Address: 201 S. College St., Waxahachie, Texas 75165 Electronic Mail: ecmuseum@sbcglobal.net
A Rootsweb sponsored site.
Visitors since September 6, 2002
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Special Events
The Gingerbread Trail is an annual home tour sponsored by the Ellis County Museum. Proceeds from this event play a large part in the museum's annual budget. The 2013 Trail will be the 45th year of the event. The Trail occurs on the first full weekend in June and features five historic homes, an arts & crafts festival, Ellis County Courthouse tours and other activities. Visit the Trail page for year specific information for this event.
Gingerbread Trail Arts & Crafts Show Information and Application
Links
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