Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum - Canyon, TX - WPA Projects on Waymarking.com

“The Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum opened its doors to the public in 1933. It was a hit with the public, who soon began donating artifacts to the museum from the area’s past in addition to their financial contributions. In 1941, Walter Irvin gave a Ford Model A (number 28 off the assembly line), in honor of his daughter, Miss Peggy Irvins. In 1958, Retta Carter Hubbard contributed Charles Goodnight’s silver-mounted saddle, which she received as a gift from the famed cattle rancher after her 1926 marriage to his foster son, Cleo (the saddle was probably made about 1905). In 1960, Topay Parker, the widow of Quanah Parker, donated his headdress, lance, and other artifacts to the museum for preservation and display.

By 1936, the influx of artifacts made it necessary to add on to the building. The basement of the second addition was funded with a grant from the Texas Centennial Commission, a WPA agency, thereby making PPHM a Texas Centennial museum. New Deal monies also paid for four murals in Pioneer Hall: H.D. Bugbee’s The Cattleman and Ben Carlton Mead’s Coronado’s Coming were funded by the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP). Bugbee’s Ranch Headquarters and Mead’s Antelope Creek were funded by the Coronado Cuarto Centennial Commission, a WPA agency.”