Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum

 If you grew up in my era and dreamed of being a cowboy, you may have wanted to be a Texas Ranger. The Texas Rangers were the baddest of the best law officers in the world. With a star badge cut from a Mexican coin as his calling card, one ranger on a horse with two pistols blazing and a repeating rifle at his side could take on a whole gang of bad guys and win hands down. They never backed down and always got their man.

The Texas Rangers were the stuff of wild west legends. While in real life all the stories may not be exactly true, these men were heroes to the pioneering families of their times. They did their best to keep the peace in Texas then, as they still do today.

Visiting the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum is a must when you visit the Waco area. Whether you are interested in learning about frontier history, are a gun aficionado, or like western art and film memorabilia, you will find something fascinating at this museum. The “Larger than Life” law officers are individually displayed with stories, portraits and the elegantly engraved guns they possessed.

The rangers were known for introducing advanced weaponry into the Texas frontier.  In 1844, Captain John Coffee Hays learned that the Texas Navy had 5 shot revolving pistols available.  He obtained them for his Texas Ranger Company and the multi-shot pistols gave the Rangers a great advantage in their gun battles with the outlaws they tracked.

A little known fact about the Rangers is their involvement in surveying the Texas settlement. Their knowledge of the terrain and ability to defend themselves made them excellent candidates for this task and many Rangers supplemented their income by working as land surveyors.  Since Rangers were sometimes paid in land rather than cash, this also gave them the opportunity to identify the choice properties as their reward for protecting the citizens of Texas.

One of our favorite sections of the Museum was the popular culture area. Here we viewed many Lone Ranger collectibles, “Walker, Texas Ranger” memorabilia, movie posters about Texas Rangers as well as books about these heroes. We also enjoyed the collection of western art currently on display and the portraits of some of the earliest rangers. The artist masterfully captured in these portraits not only the man but one or more significant events in his life as a ranger.

As you leave the museum, you can’t help being proud of these Texans. Today, the men and women of the Texas Rangers are still the elite of Texas law enforcement. The stories of bravery and accomplishments still live on. Knowing they are still protecting us today just like they did in yesteryear is a comforting thought as we see Texas Thru My Back Door!