Welcome To Texas: Old Red Museum
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) — At the corner of Houston and Main streets, you'll find the building known as Old Red.
Built in 1890 (and opened two years later), Old Red was a bustling county seat and courthouse for its first 100 years. It has since been transformed into a museum celebrating all things Dallas.
"We call it 'the castle in the city,' because it really is like Cinderella's castle with the turrets and everything," Kerry Adams, exhibit director of Old Red Museum, said.
In a visit, you can see Clyde Barrow's gun, of the outlaws Bonnie and Clyde. You can see a pair of pants worn by George "Spanky" McFarland of the "Little Rascals." And you can see the Stetson cowboy hat actor Larry Hagman wore while playing the famed character J.R. Ewing on the show "Dallas."
Plus a whole lot more.
"We are kind-of the encyclopedic history of Dallas," Adams said. "We can't focus on one subject in great detail, but we give you all the bullet points that take you up to present day."
You can also see a picture of John Neely Bryan, founder of the City of Dallas and the man who donated the plot of land on which Old Red sits.
It cost $350,000 to build Old Red in the late 1800s, which would be more than $8 million today (the Bureau of Labor Statistics' earliest consumer price index value was calculated in 1913).
Today, Old Red stays true to its past. Many original features are still in the building, including some staircases.
And if they're not original, they're made to look so. The fourth-floor courtroom has been renovated to resemble its early-1900s appearance. Behind the judge's bench, you can find a painting of George Mifflin Dallas. Some believe the city was named after him.
But he's not the only man named 'Dallas' with early ties to the area.
"John Neely Bryan, the founder [of the city], has been quoted as saying he named the city after his friend Dallas, but [the friend's] identity has not been corroborated," Adams said.
The story of Dallas' namesake is as clear as mud, but the history of Old Red is as solid as the red Pecos sandstone and gray granite used to build it.
More than 120 years later, Old Red still stands watch at the corner of Houston and Main.
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