{"id":29029,"date":"2017-11-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.tarleton.edu\/news\/tarletons-w-k-gordon-center-celebrates-15th-birthday-with-free-admission\/"},"modified":"2023-06-23T13:41:34","modified_gmt":"2023-06-23T18:41:34","slug":"tarletons-w-k-gordon-center-celebrates-15th-birthday-with-free-admission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/tarletons-w-k-gordon-center-celebrates-15th-birthday-with-free-admission\/","title":{"rendered":"Tarleton&#8217;s W.K. Gordon Center celebrates 15th birthday with free admission"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br \/>\nThursday, November 9, 2017<\/p>\n<p>STEPHENVILLE, Texas\u2014Fifteen years ago, Tarleton State University\u2019s W.K. Gordon Center for Industrial History of Texas opened its doors in the ghost town of Thurber, Texas, miles from a city of any size. Since then, more than 50,000 people have visited the center, making it a popular destination on the edge of West Texas.<\/p>\n<p>A combined museum, research center and special collections library, the Gordon Center celebrates its 15th birthday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 18, with free admission, cake and tours.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube Video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RU0SWB1rdrM\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re excited to celebrate 15 years as part of the Tarleton family,\u201d said Shae Adams, assistant curator at the center. \u201cIt\u2019s fitting that our birthday falls during the university\u2019s centennial as founding member of The Texas A&amp;M University System. Together, we\u2019re sharing our past and celebrating our future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re honoring the area communities who\u2019ve supported and appreciated us for 15 years and, with their continued engagement, we look forward to greater opportunities to showcase more historic exhibitions and provide interactive learning opportunities for visitors of all ages.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A dark brick building with stars along the edge, the Gordon Center\u2014the state\u2019s only institution focused on the industrial history of Texas and the Southwest\u2014is located on four acres just off Interstate 20 midway between Fort Worth and Abilene in what was once a booming West Texas town, founded in the 1880s by the Texas and Pacific Coal Company.<\/p>\n<p>In concert with its birthday celebration, the center has established a friends of the museum group, called the TP Club after the T&amp;P Company. Friends will enjoy free year-round admission and members-only events.<\/p>\n<p>The T&amp;P owned every building in Thurber\u2014every nail, shingle and doorknob. Residents lived in company houses, shopped at company stores, drank at company saloons, attended company schools and worshipped in company-owned churches.<\/p>\n<p>In the early 1900s, Thurber was the largest coal mining community in Texas, boasted the best-equipped brick factory west of the Mississippi and, with the discovery of the McClesky oil well in 1917 at Ranger, opened the door to West Texas petroleum production.<\/p>\n<p>At the height of Thurber\u2019s brick manufacturing, 800 workers produced 80,000 bricks per day in 35 varieties. The bricks were used to pave streets and construct buildings throughout the Southwest, including Congress Avenue in Austin, Camp Bowie Boulevard in Fort Worth, the Dallas Opera House and Galveston seawall. The first building on Tarleton\u2019s Stephenville campus was built with bricks fired in Thurber kilns.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe W.K. Gordon Center chronicles that history and is a monument to a unique company town built by immigrant muscle,\u201d Adams said. \u201cImmigrants came from around the world\u2014Italy, Poland, Ireland and Russia\u2014to work and live in Thurber, creating a unique multicultural community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Museum visitors can listen to some of their stories, view exhibits of historic Thurber photos and artifacts\u2014most collected by the Thurber Historical Association over the last 50 years\u2014stroll past reconstructions of the mercantile store, the livery stable, the town bandstand, opera house and Snake Saloon, and learn what happened when the discovery of oil disturbed the balance between the T&amp;P and the community.<\/p>\n<p>Funding for the center came via a federal grant and gifts from the late Mrs. W.K Gordon Jr. in honor of her father-in-law\u2014William Knox Gordon, a civil engineer from Virginia, who was instrumental in developing the coal fields and brick-building industry for the T&amp;P in Thurber\u2014the Gordon Foundation and Tarleton State University Foundation, Inc.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Gordon originally gave $3.8 million to help construct the museum and research center, and later donated an additional $5 million to continue its operation. In total, Mrs. Gordon and the Gordon Foundation have given nearly $10 million to Tarleton\u2014the largest gift in the university\u2019s history.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are extremely grateful to Mrs. Gordon and the Gordon Foundation for their financial support to help us share the rich history of Thurber with others,\u201d Adams said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryday life, as was once known in Thurber, has long disappeared, but it\u2019s a valuable piece of Texas history worth preserving. That\u2019s our mission.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The W.K. Gordon Center for Industrial History of Texas is open from 10 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday and from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $5 for adults; $4 for seniors, active military personnel and veterans, and $2.50 for children from 5 to 12. Children under 5 are admitted free.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"..\/..\/..\/calendar\/#!event_id\/20903\/view\/event\/date\/20171118\">Save the event to your calendar<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For more information on the center, go to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/gordoncenter\">www.tarleton.edu\/gordoncenter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Tarleton, celebrating 100 years as a founding member of The Texas A&amp;M University System, provides a student-focused, value-driven educational experience marked by academic innovation and exemplary service, and dedicated to transforming students into tomorrow\u2019s professional leaders. As a member of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) with campuses in Stephenville, Fort Worth, Waco, Midlothian and online, Tarleton engages with its communities to provide real-world learning experiences and to address societal needs while maintaining its core values of tradition, integrity, civility, leadership, excellence and service.<\/p>\n<p>#<\/p>\n<p>Contact: Shae Adams, Assistant Curator<br \/>\n254-968-1897<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:sadams@tarleton.edu\">sadams@tarleton.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fifteen years ago, Tarleton State University&rsquo;s W.K. Gordon Center for Industrial History of Texas opened its doors in the ghost town of Thurber, Texas, miles from a city of any size. Since then, more than 50,000 people have visited the center, making it a popular destination on the edge of West Texas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":29030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[424],"tags":[442,460],"class_list":["post-29029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-events","tag-community-events","tag-w-k-gordon-center-for-industrial-history-of-texas"],"acf":{"image":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"keegan","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/keegan-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2021\/11\/image-1509-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/category\/arts-events\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Arts &amp; Events<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Arts &amp; Events<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/category\/arts-events\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Community Events<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/category\/arts-events\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">W.K. 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Gordon Center for Industrial History of Texas<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 8 years ago","modified":"Updated 3 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on November 9, 2017","modified":"Updated on June 23, 2023"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on November 9, 2017 12:00 am","modified":"Updated on June 23, 2023 1:41 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"A large group of miners pose in front of an industrial building.","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}