Brenham Heritage Museum facts for kids
The Brenham Heritage Museum is a local history museum located in downtown Brenham, Texas. Exhibits and collections reflect a focus on the history and culture of the Brenham and Washington County area. The museum is located in the old US Post Office-Federal Building-Brenham, a National Register of Historic Places building. The museum operates a second site, the Bus Depot Gallery, in the Art-Deco Kerrville Bus Lines Depot of Brenham.
Origins
In 1991, the City of Brenham offered an historic building for use as a museum to the Brenham Heritage Museum, a non-profit organization in Brenham, Texas. A non-profit was established, some collections were acquired, funds were raised and the museum opened soon after.
Collections
The Brenham Heritage Museum has acquired the body of her collections from the citizenry of Brenham, Texas and the surrounding Washington County. A number of groups and organizations have provided the museum with significant portions of the collection:
- Washington County
- City of Brenham
- The Brenham Fire Department
- Roberta Cole Johnson
- Edwina Day Hallstein
- Honorable Judge Eddie Harrison
- The Kaminsky and Murski families
- The families of Washington County
Collections by category
- Historic Images of Brenham and Washington County
- Furniture
- Militaria
- Oral History
- Tools
- Objects related to the commerce and businesses of Washington County
- Historic Structures
Museum structure as a heritage site
The Brenham Heritage Museum is located in what was once the US Post Office for the City of Brenham. The building was constructed between 1914 (when the land was first acquired) and 1916 (when construction was completed). It remained the post office until the mid-1960s, when a new post office was built nearby. The old post office structure became a federal office building.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990, it was added due to its notable Classical Revival architecture.
Brenham Post Office construction Site. Brenham Heritage Museum. Black and White Photograph, 1914.
Property Abstract for 200 block of South Market Street. Brenham Heritage Museum. 1910 and 1914.
Board Minutes. Brenham Heritage Museum. 1990 and 1991.
