A month ago, a rally was held on Saturday, January 17 at noon. This took place in front of the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum. This rally was led and organized by Lisa Jackson, a retired museum worker, and the Facebook group she created to help save the museum, which attracted multiple families, students and community members.
“The problem is that the Panhandle Plains Historical Society, the owners of the property, have not been proactive in enforcing the contract in which the A&M system is supposed to be maintaining that building all along,” Jackson said. “This extensive fire marshal inspection reports that three-fourths of [museum malfunctions] was easily fixable. It was a little electrical things. There are some structural issues that are a problem, but again, that should be under the purview of the West Texas annuals.”
Now with these structural malfunctions, West Texas A&M University President Dr. Walter V. Wendler, has now closed the museum without notice, and there is a possibility of our beloved museum being closed forever.
“Personally, I’m very upset about [the museum closure]. I’ve had a lot of great experiences with my family and I love the museum, especially since it’s just preservation of history which is very important to our society,” Senior Aidon Tijerina said. “The museum is worth saving not only because it preserves our history but it educates the people of not only Canyon but everywhere in general.”
The museum’s closure is not only a major loss to Canyon, but the students of Canyon High School as well, with attachments to the historical museum rooting since elementary school.
“I really like the museum, it’s really sad they’re closing, I have a lot of good memories there,” Sophomore Shyanne Blackerby said. “One of my favorite memories is going to one of my friend’s birthday parties. We all went to the museum and we played in pioneer town and looked at all the Native American stuff –it was really fun.”
Most agree that the museum is far too valuable, historical and rooted into the community to remove. The museum is a place where not only where older generations have learned but newer generations will continue to learn the history of the Panhandle.
“I think it’s really special to people. It’s old, it’s been there forever, my grandparents remember going there when they were little,” Freshman Mikayla Penny said. “It draws people in; it’s something special about our town and I think it’s worth saving.”
