While I didn’t get to everything in Abilene, I did visit The Grace Museum, an art & history museum in the very heart of town. Abilene is also known as the “storybook capital of America” and as such, has several sculptures around town depicting storybook characters. Let’s take a look.
The Grace Museum
The Grace Museum started its life as a hotel in 1909, located directly across the street from Abilene’s vital train station. Offering rooms for $1 a night ($1.50 with a bath), it bustled with activity and housed additional businesses, like a barbershop, pool hall, and the popular Grace Coffee Shop.
After the decline of rail travel in the ’60s, the hotel closed in 1973. Abilene’s preservation league saved the historic hotel from destruction in the ’80s, effected major renovations, and opened it as a museum in 1992. The Grace is actually three museums in one – an art museum, a local history museum, and a children’s activity center.
First Floor
When you come in at the first-floor entrance, you can see the Grace Hotel lobby similar to what it would have been like in its heyday. A ballroom with green columns has also been restored, and a small gift shop has signs about the history of the hotel and museum.
Through the entrance to the museum itself are two art galleries – a main gallery and an atrium gallery in the stairwell. This stairwell connects you to all three levels of the museum. (As does a nearby elevator.)
Second Floor
On the second floor are three more art gallery spaces – really one big open space around the stairs. It’s mostly painted works, some sculpture, and a very nice collection of photographs.
Also on this floor is the children’s museum. A middle space focuses on Abilene’s history and the importance of train travel. It’s in simpler terms for kids but still interesting to adults. A display with several drawers holds historical artifacts from the train and the hotel. And a salvaged and refurbished light-up sign of The Grace hangs by the windows. On one side of this room is a small classroom/dining space, and on the other is a large play area. There were several families in there, so it’s a popular place! There are puzzles and a stage, and several different play areas and fun structures. (I didn’t get a good picture of the overall areas since it was so full of kids.)
Third Floor
The third floor of The Grace Museum is all about local history. In the main gallery is a recreated hotel room from The Grace’s opening years. Then along the wall is a really neat display of six full-sized rooms. Each room depicts a kitchen and living for a typical Abilene working-class home in 1910, 1928, and 1948. It showcases the style and evolution of appliances from each era, as well as construction techniques from the cut-away walls.
On the opposite side of the room are examples of fashion, with a focus on fans. Pardon the pun, but it’s really cool! There are so many different kinds, from fixed and feathered, collapsible and ornately carved, big and small.
In addition, two smaller galleries flanking the stairs concern the overland mail routes in the wild west, carrying U.S. mail by pony and stagecoach. A video shows excavation & restoration work on one of the old outposts. And a gallery in the hallway deals with Jewishness in Abilene.
Going in, I mainly wanted to see The Grace Museum just to see what the old hotel looks like inside. But I really enjoyed my visit and am extra glad of the history component to it. As a traveler, I always love learning more about the place I’m in!
Hours & Admission
The Grace Museum is closed Sunday & Monday, and is open from 10-5 Tuesday-Saturday, with FREE admission on Thursday nights from 5-8.
Otherwise, it costs $6 for adults and $3 for kids 4-17, seniors 65+, students and teachers, and non-active military. The museum is FREE for active military and kids 3 and under.
And just a note about parking, while I found plenty of free street parking across from the entrance to The Grace Museum, they have their own dedicated lots just off 1st street. There’s an open lot right behind the museum and a covered lot with an arrow sign. That one kind of looks like you’re driving into an old storefront.
Storybook Character Statues
Right around The Grace Museum are several storybook statues. A group of Dr. Seuss statues is in Everman Park right across the street, next to the train station. A few more are scattered around the block of The Grace, with the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature on the next block over. About six blocks north is Adamson-Spalding Storybook Garden. It’s not too far to walk, but you can also park in the huge convention center parking lot adjacent to it.
The Story of the Storybook Capitol
So, how did Abilene become the Storybook Capital of America? The story goes that in 1993, the town mayor read a storybook to a local elementary school called Santa Calls. He invited the author – who set the story in Abilene but had never been there – to a town council function, and the two struck up a friendship. This friendship resulted in the opening of the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature in downtown Abilene, followed by the commissioning of the storybook statues around town. Soon, there was an annual event called the Children’s Art & Literacy Festival. By 2015, the Texas state legislature designated Abilene as the official Storybook Capital of Texas, and by 2018, the town trademarked the name for the whole nation. So it’s a little bit of a tourist-office gimmick, but it’s about the most wholesome one I’ve ever seen.
Abilene
I’d love to go back and do a more complete tour of Abilene and the statues and storybook center. It was pretty cold and rainy during my January visit, so I was disinclined this time around. But what a wonderful place! I enjoyed visiting Abilene very much. Everyone I spoke to was incredibly friendly and helpful, and you really can’t dislike a town with so much whimsy on display. It’s fun for kids and families and makes adults remember the wonder of being a child.
Combined with the “official list” in my last post about things to do in Abilene, it sounds like I have a few more museums to visit, things to eat, shows to see, and a zoo to look in on.
Be First to Comment