How the Azle Historical Museum started and what to know
NOVA WANG
Nova Wang is one of several Azle High School journalism students participating in a practicum course with the Tri-County Reporter as part of the AHS Career and Technical Education program.
AZLE— With Azle being a small town, many people here would assume that they know all about what the city has to offer. Something many do not know about is the Azle Historical Museum located at the corner of W. Main and Church Streets.
Originally when the museum was founded, it was at a completely different location prior to its current one.
“The museum was organized in 1976, but we’ve only been in this building since ‘78,” President Rex Ballauer said. “At first we were on the top floor of what is now Red’s Burgers but at that time it was called Stribling’s Drugstore. Mrs. Stribling was one of the people who got the museum together; she was one of the founding members of it. So if we had things to display, then we put our display on the top floor of the drugstore.”
What started the concept of the museum was the public’s interest in having a display for anybody to see. This led to many people donating, to the point that the museum now has to be wary of what people donate because the building is filled to the brim with historical items.
“We like to say that it’s all Azle, donated by Azlelites. But some things in here did not come from Azle, but they represent history,” Ballauer said. “We used to take donations, but we are now at the point where we are at full capacity. So if somebody donates something, we have consider to how big is it. We have no wall space and our shelves are pretty well full. We have three closets ,but they are all stuffed full. So we can’t rotate exhibits because we don’t have a place to store the ones that we’re not showing at the time.”
When it comes to having interesting pieces from history, the Azle Historical Museum has a range of items from clothing to machinery.
“Probably the oldest item in the museum is a spinning wheel that we’ve got upstairs that belonged to one of the founding families that came in the early 1860s and 1870s,” Ballauer said. “What is interesting though, is that we have the horseshoes from Seabiscuit, who was popular back when he was racing and so we have those. Our former mayor, Mayor (C.Y.) Rone, he knew everybody and I don’t know where he got the horseshoes, but they’re displayed on a plaque and everything.”
With continuous changes within the museum, the only thing that has helped keep it going are the helpers and their relationship with Azle.
“My family came here at the very beginning in 1853. My great-grandmother was born here in 1855. So I’ve got a vested interest in the museum because of my family’s history,” Ballauer said. “One of our other volunteers’ family has been here longer than mine and one of the other members’ family has been here since the very beginning. So I think it’s the volunteers that we’ve got and their connection with Azle, and they want to see the history of Azle and want other people to see the history.”
On an average Saturday, volunteers can have varied shifts depending on who chooses to come in.
“We have like eight volunteers, so we have a Saturday apiece, so we don’t have to work every Saturday,” Ballauer said. “Some Saturdays we sit here for four hours and no one comes in, other times we have as many as eight people come in. But many people come in and say, I’ve lived here all my life and I’ve never been in here. How long have y’all been here?”
While the museum is closed for the winter, it will be open soon in the spring.
“After they watch the Christmas parade, we shoo everybody out and then we lock the door for the winter and then we turn the water off and we don’t open back up until the first Saturday in March,” Ballauer said. “Every year we do that, so we close after the parade on the first Saturday in December and open the first Saturday of March. We do this every year because of the water.”
If anyone is interested in hearing about the history of Azle, they can swing by the museum to learn about the city.
“I’m considered the unofficial historian, so I go around and talk to organizations and clubs and tell them the history based on things like that, churches,” Ballauer said. “If I’m ever down here, I love to tell anybody the history of Azle. If we have groups or something that can’t come on Saturdays, if I’m notified, I’ll come down here and open the museum, anytime, any day and I can tell them the history of Azle, if they’re interested.”
The oldest item in the museum, a spinning wheel, dates back to the 1800s.
