EULESS -- Mayor Mary Lib Saleh will tell you that her town "truly is a neighborhood, and it's filled with volunteers."
So when the 35-member Euless Historical Preservation Committee told her that, if given the space, they would organize hundreds of donated artifacts into a viable museum, she got out of their way."It started when we got the Fuller House," Saleh said, referring to the town's first brick home, moved in 1995 to Heritage Park. "They cleaned it up, and people started giving things from their homes, their parents' homes and furnished it in nothing flat. Then they kept giving and giving until there was so much stuff you couldn't move around in there."Moving most of the artifacts from the Fuller House into its next-door neighbor, the Ruth Millican Center at 201 Cullum Drive, was the only viable solution. The center is home to the new Euless Heritage Museum, which opens Saturday.Refreshments will be served, and tours will be conducted through the museum and the trio of buildings next door at Heritage Park -- the Fuller House, the 1850s-era Himes Log House and the McCormick Barn, built of lumber salvaged from the World War I training base Camp Bowie.Special exhibits in the museum include a back porch attached to a room designed to look like a 1930s-era kitchen, complete with period appliances. Nearby is a mid-20th-century schoolroom and a space dedicated to military memorabilia.In the larger display area are artifacts from as far back as the 1880s. Euless traces its pre-incorporation heritage back to Bird's Fort and a settlement that sprang up about the mid-19th century."There's a Flexi-flyer sled that was brought to Texas from Maryland," she said. "We asked for an old red wagon, and four of them turned up the next day. The love that's gone into putting this museum together is unbelievable."Terry Evans, 817-390-7620Twitter: @fwstevans
If you go
Grand opening of the Euless Heritage Museum, 201 Cullum Drive, is from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday.
After the grand opening, tours will be available each second Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m. and by arrangement at 817-685-1649.
Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
