The National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame

By Heather Raulerson Freelance Travel Writer

https://raulersongirlstravel.com/

Some of us dreamed of being cowgirls riding horseback into the sunset, where little girls today have Jessie from Toy Story. For those fortunate to visit Fort Worth, there is a museum dedicated to the dreams of those little girls, the National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame. In the heart of the cattle country, this museum impresses with its rhinestone-studded displays, memorabilia, and state-of-theart electronic displays. The National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame honors women of the American West who have shown extraordinary courage in their trailblazing efforts.

Let’s enter a world where women embraced the West and made it theirs.

Start your self-guided tour of the two-story museum after paying the admission fee. Which way you start is up to you. The morning crowd tends to start on the first floor left and go clockwise. I buck the trend to avoid the crowds, so I headed up the staircase to see the exhibits on the second floor. The staircase walls are covered with colorful and creative horse art on Hermès scarves, each more detailed and unique than the next, leading to the It’s Never Just a Horse Exhibition.

The second floor explores the bond between the horse, women, and the West. You’ll see dressage winners, all the horse gear (spurs, saddles, etc.) that ranch women use, learn about equine therapy, and the Las Azaleas, a “team of young Mexican American horsewomen who guide their horses, sidesaddle, through high-speed, choreographed performances known as escaramuzas.” While walking around reading about these amazing women, you can enjoy the interactive horse display that winds around the whole floor. There are also interactive exhibits where you can design your western wear and ride a bucking bronco in a rodeo.

On the first floor, the Dare to Wear exhibit is one of the first exhibits that grabs your eye with the sparkling sequins. Cowgirls are naturally bold, and their clothes tend to follow that boldness with color and bling. Cowgirls wear rhinestone jackets to the grocery store or cowboy boots with a cocktail dress. This exhibit displays unique cowgirl western wear adorned by rodeo competitors and entertainers, including fringed jackets, rhinestone-studded suits and vests, embroidered shirts, and every rainbow color of custom-made cowboy boots. Walking through, you’ll come away with more appreciation for “the four cornerstones of western wear: immaculate tailoring, fringe, rhinestones, and lavish embroidery.”

Exploring the Hitting the Mark: Cowgirls and Wild West Shows Gallery is a lesson on how girls growing up on ranches were able to make a living. In the late 19th century, a collection of women showed the entire world through Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West shows that:

“This is what a cowgirl is. This is what a cowgirl does.”

People were introduced to cowgirls like sharp-shooter Annie Oakley, and others that showed off the skills they obtained from working on family ranches. These girl athletes could rope, trick ride, sharpshoot, ride broncs, wrestle steer, relay race, ride buffalo, break horses, and even design and sew their own clothes. The ladies of the Wild West Shows went on to join the rodeo circuit, becoming Hollywood stunt doubles or actresses, or in Annie Oakley’s case, educating women on the importance of exercise and giving shooting lessons. It is neat to see the old Buffalo Bill Wild West Show posters and photographs of the cowgirls participating in the shows.

The photography gallery exhibits Tough by Nature: Portraits of Cowgirls and Ranch Women of the American West and Hard Twist: Western Ranch Women by Barbara Van Cleve are fabulous. I was fortunate to see the Hard Twist exhibit when it was on display at the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis and it was as impressive the second time around. These rotating exhibits are worth seeing wherever they show up. The portraits of the ranch women are raw, beautiful, and authentic. Combined with their stories, these cowgirls have led a remarkable life.

The Hall of Fame Honorees that shaped the West and changed the world are in the museum’s center. You can see the names listed on the wall by year as you walk around the room. Some of the names you’ll see are the 1999 Cowgirl

Hall of Fame Honoree Julie Krone, the first female jockey to win a Triple Crown race, Mollie Stevenson, Jr. and her mother, the first living African Americans who were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2001, Reba McEntire in 2017, Miranda Lambert in 2021, and Lucca K458 U.S. Marine Corps

Working Dog in 2021. Plus, you can find many honorees’ stories throughout the museum.

Exploring the National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame is a fun place to start your Fort Worth visit. Consider spending at least 1.5 to 2 hours wandering the museum, which gives you plenty of time to see the afternoon cattle drive at the Fort Worth Stockyards. The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame is located at 1720 Gendy Street in the Cultural District of Fort Worth, approximately one mile north of I-30. The Museum is west of the Will Rogers Memorial Center and south of the Museum of Science and History.