Our Mission
The mission of the museum is to preserve and share the cultural heritage of Bandera County and the Texas frontier times. The museum serves the county and visitors through eclectic collections that tell stories through exhibitions and educational programs that promote Bandera County and its impact on the Texas frontier.
Our History
As visitors walk through the museum’s doors, they are transported back to the days when museums served as cabinets of curiosities, displaying wonderful and weird treasures. Museum founder and luminary, J. Marvin Hunter, Sr., never said no to a gift to the museum’s collection. He felt that if the artifact was important to the donor, then it should be important to everyone. This resulted in the museum’s eclectic and eccentric collection that has amazed visitors for 90 years. Today, the museum also serves to honor the legacy of the American cowboy and our ranching traditions with displays on local rodeo champions, the Harvey Chelf Barbed Wire Collection, the Debbie Henderson Western Hat Collection, and the Frontier Times Museum Texas Heroes Hall of Honor.
Newspaperman and printer, J. Marvin Hunter, Sr., moved to Bandera in 1921 and purchased the weekly newspaper, the Bandera New Era, in 1921. An amateur historian, he was fascinated with stories of the Old West. In addition to publishing the local newspaper, he began publishing his own magazine, the Frontier Times, in 1927. Despite the advent of the Great Depression in 1929, the magazine quickly gained a wide readership throughout the country. Readers of the publication were encouraged to contribute their own tales. They not only contributed their stories, they began to send Hunter their pioneer relics and treasures from the Old West. Soon the New Era office was filled to the rafters as Mr. Hunter displayed all that was sent to him.
When Hunter had to knock out a wall to accommodate his growing collection, he began to dream of building his own museum. Though the Depression was gripping the country, Hunter worked out a way to raise funds to build his dream. He decided to print a book, The Authentic History of Sam Bass and his Gang, with an edition of 1,000 copies, and sell them for $1 each, to raise $1,000. He built his limestone building on the highest point in the city of Bandera, on Delightful Hill. The Frontier Times Museum opened its doors on May 20, 1933.
In 1935, Hunter expanded the original building with the construction of Chisholm Hall, named for Jesse Chisholm and the Chisholm Cattle Trail.
After Mr. Hunter’s death in 1957, the museum was sold in 1960 to Mr. F. B. Doane, a successful businessman who had a keen interest in all things western. After Doane’s death in 1964, his widow, Sandra Doane Turk, and their family foundation, the Doane Foundation, funded and operated the museum. In 1972, the Doane Gallery of Western Art was added to the existing building and Mrs. Doane gifted the museum to the residents of Bandera County. Today the Doane Foundation continues to be a supporter of the museum and its endeavors.
The museum building itself is an artifact with fossilized brain coral from the shallow sea that once covered today’s Hill Country, petrified wood from trees that grew along the shoreline, and chunks of crystal gracing the walls. Visitors from all over the world walk through the museum’s doors to marvel at the many treasures found within its doors and in the walls of one of Bandera’s most unique buildings.
