Texas Science and Natural History Museum facts for kids
 |
|
| Established | 1939 |
|---|---|
| Location | 2400 Trinity Street Austin, Texas |
| Type | Natural history museum |
| Owner | University of Texas at Austin |
The Texas Science & Natural History Museum is a cool place to explore science and nature! It's located on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin in Austin, Texas. The museum first opened its doors on January 15, 1939, and was originally called the Texas Memorial Museum.
This museum is all about natural history. You can learn about paleontology (fossils and ancient life), geology (rocks and the Earth), biology (living things), herpetology (reptiles and amphibians), ichthyology (fish), and entomology (insects). The building itself is pretty special, designed in the Art Deco style. Even President Franklin D. Roosevelt helped start its construction in 1936!
The museum has won "Best of Austin" awards from the Austin Chronicle several times, showing how much people love it. In 2001, some exhibits about Texas history and cultures moved to other museums, like the Bullock Texas State History Museum. The museum closed in 2022 for big updates and reopened on September 23, 2023, with its new name, the Texas Science & Natural History Museum.
The Wichita County Meteorite: A Space Rock Story
Imagine finding a giant rock from space! The museum has a famous one called the Wichita County Meteorite. This amazing space rock has a long history.
Back in 1723, the Comanche people fought a big battle near a river they called Rio del Fierro, which means "River of Iron." This river might be where a huge piece of metal was found. In 1772, a traveler named Athanase De Mezieres wrote about this "mass of metal" that was "hard, thick, heavy, and composed of iron."
The Native American tribes in the area, especially the Comanche, thought this meteorite was very special. They called it "Ta-pic-ta-carre" (standing rock) or "Po-a-cat-le-pi-le-carre" (medicine rock). They believed it had special powers and would leave offerings like beads and arrowheads on it.
"According to the Indians, the mass was first discovered by the Spaniards, who made several ineffectual attempts to remove it on pack mules but were finally compelled to abandon it on account of its great weight. The Comanches at first endeavored to melt the mass by building large fires around it, but failing in this, they next attempted to break it in pieces, in which they were likewise unsuccessful; they then conceived the idea that it was a wonderful medicine stone and therefore worthy of their most profound regard...it was the custom of all who passed by to deposit upon it beads, arrowheads, tobacco, and other articles as offerings."
The Wichita County meteorite originally weighed about 145 kilograms (that's over 300 pounds!). Major Robert Neighbors, a US Indian agent, got the meteorite in 1858-1859. He gave it to the State Cabinet, and it was displayed in the old Capitol building. After the building burned down, this special space rock was given to the University of Texas, where it found its home in the museum.
Major Neighbors said that when the meteorite was moved, the Comanches gathered around their "valued medicine stone." They showed how much they cared for it by rubbing their arms and chests on it, and they really wanted to keep it at their agency.
There's another huge meteorite, weighing 742 kilograms, called the Red River meteorite. It was found in 1808 and is now at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.
Images for kids
-
Relief from the western side of the museum, sculpted by William McVey
