Museum News
Texas Civil War Museum in Fort Worth to close and sell off artifacts
Texas Civil War Museum RIP
A Fort Worth museum is closing its doors: The Texas Civil War Museum, which displayed artifacts from the Civil War era, will close at the end of October.
The museum, located at 760 Jim Wright Fwy. North in White Settlement, had been open since 2006.
According to a post by museum marketing director Dennis Partrich, the venue will close on October 31.
"The museum will be closing for good," Patrich said. "The decision was made by the family and the board of directors. In addition, the building has been sold."
In November, the bulk of its collection will go to a consignor in Pennsylvania called The Horse Soldier, who said in a statement that they'd be selling it to interested parties piece-by-piece.
"We will not be selling these items at auction, but we will be posting items to our website to sell, and selling out of our shop in Gettysburg," the consignor said.
The Texas Civil War Museum was founded by North Texas oil executive Ray Richey, and featured photographs, war antiques, uniforms, and guns donated by Richey and his wife, Judy, who curates a collection of Victorian-era dresses.
The museum also displayed materials donated by the now-closed Texas Confederate Museum in Austin. Those materials are owned by the Texas division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and will not be sold.
All other items will be placed in storage.
The museum initially planned to close in December 2023 but was persuaded to stay open by ardent fans.
It became embroiled in the Confederate statue imbroglio in 2019 wherein the city of Dallas took down a 1935 bronze statue of Robert E. Lee and considered donating it to the museum before selling it to a private buyer. According to the Fort Worth Star Telegram, the museum defended Confederate monuments on its Facebook page, but Richey told the newspaper that “we just deal with the artifacts and try to present the war as it happened. We don’t want to get into the 'why'."
Since the museum shared the news of its closure on August 29, it has already experienced a flurry of interest, including brisk sales at its museum store which sells old flags and other Civil War memorabilia.
