Heritage museum reopens

After closing last May for renovation, the Brownsville Heritage Complex reopens its doors this morning with a new design and interactive features that children — and their parents — will enjoy.

"At least 80 percent of the museum’s exhibits now have something you can touch or play with, or something that you can look at and say, ‘Hmm that is interesting,’ " said Kate Moore, project director for the Heritage Complex.

The Brownsville Historical Association closed the history museum last year for a $150,000 renovation after it received large artifacts as gifts, said Priscilla Rodriguez, executive director of the city association. The layout of the complex had to be rearranged to accommodate the new displays, but museum planners also took advantage of the change to make the exhibits more child-friendly.

"This new design will allow us to tell the Texas story differently," Rodriguez said. "The old layout appealed to a different audience, age wise. The new layout has something for everyone."

The historical association’s changing membership incited the interactive activities now available, Rodriguez said. From October to December 2009, the last full quarter the museum was open, the association’s newest 110 members were all young families with children, she said.

"They were looking for something fun and inexpensive to do," Rodriguez said.

For Brownsville residents who remember the museum as a mostly empty room filled with historical photographs, the change will be significant. The room has been divided into different interactive stations. There is the an 1800s dress up room and a commerce store exhibit, where children can try old-fashioned hats and weigh miniature bags of coffee, beans and flour.

Moore takes special pride in a large, wooden word search puzzle she designed to help teach children history vocabulary. That is the best part about the museum, she says, every exhibit of the museum correlates with the K-12 social studies curriculum.

So, it is education by proxy," Moore said. "They don’t realize they are learning because they are having so much."

BREAK OUT:

Brownsville Heritage Complex

1325 E. Washington St.

Open: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Admission

Adults $5

Seniors $4

Students $2

Children under 6 years old FREE