Attorney Marion Reynolds built the brick Reynolds hotel from 1925 to 1928, in Shamrock, Texas, and operated the hotel for about fifty years. The hotel went out of business, and the building was repurposed as the Pioneer West Musuem in 1978.
I really enjoyed this museum since it covered a wide variety of history in Northern Texas through newspapers and artifacts donated by locals.
The musuem has an exhibit on the Texas Rangers that were formed by Stephen Fuller Austin in 1823. The rangers helped protect American settlers from Native Americans and hostile Mexicans during and after the Mexican- American War.
The phrase, “One Riot, One Ranger” was created in 1896, by a Texas Ranger in Dallas, Captain William “Bill” McDonald.
The musuem had articles about the grand Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations in the town of Shamrock.
The “War Room” had many artifacts from Chester Beasley, who was a prisoner of war in Austria during World War II. Some of the items included maps of the Civil War and other American conflicts.
There was a space exhibit based on astronaut Alan LaVern Bean an astronaut from Wheeler, Texas who was the first training astronaut to dive into the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator. Alan LaVern Bean was on the Apollo XII Mission and passed away earlier this year on May 26, 2018.
Author’s Note:
The Texas Ranger Musuem in Waco, Texas has more extensive history of the rangers.
In addition, Western Trips has more information on the local history of Shamrock.
Hamilton Historical Records 