During your visit to this Abilene, Texas attraction, experience the Old West through exciting exhibits and unique encounters. In Frontier Texas’ General Store you can shop for Texas souvenirs.
Blood and Treasure Welcome Theater
Start your visit to Frontier Texas in the Blood and Treasure Welcome Theater featuring a 12-minute introduction to Frontier Texas. During the presentation you will be introduced to the Spirit Guides found throughout the facility, 9 individuals who have been selected to represent different segments of the frontier population.
Exhibits
A Wild Land
Explore 13,000 years of cultures smashed by the forces of the region. A Wild Land examines frontier Texas 15,000 years before it was settled by the Comanche, who claimed the Texas frontier as home in the early 1700s.
Comanche Empire
Uncover how the Comanche dominated the Southern Plains between the 1700s and 1800s in Comanche Empire. Riding on horses introduced to them by Spanish explorers, the Comanche hunted, traded and made war across a hug expanse of the Southwest. Their mobility as well as their economic and militaristic supremacy made them the first culture to sustain dominance of the frontier Texas region. The Comanche prevented European expansion in their homeland for over 150 years, something no other Native American tribe achieved.
Buffalo Hide Trade
Learn about the buffalo hide trade, the frontier’s first economic boom. Buffalo Hide Trade chronicles the history of the buffalo hide trade, from the discovery that buffalo hides were suitable for industrial leather to the treaty that was supposed to protect the Texas buffalo from hunters.
Military
Military looks at how the military moved from peacekeeping to warfare. Learn about the first U.S military forts, established after the Mexican-American War and an Indian attack on the Warren Wagon Train near Graham, Texas that led to a government change in Indian policy.
Cowboys
Learn about the cowboys who drove millions of cattle from the prairies to railheads in Kansas in the Cowboy exhibit. Texans began to drive cattle across open range and the Indian Territory to railheads in Kansas for shipment to eastern markets. As a Texas Steer worth $3 could be sold at a railhead for $30, cowboys were paid well for their hard, often dangerous journeys and herd owners made fortunes.
Settlements
Encounter the individuals who formed the first frontier towns in Settlements. As more soldiers, trail drivers, buffalo hunters and other pioneers headed west, settlements began to grow up on the frontier. While some settlements were established around frontier forts, others developed as trading posts. Such settlements attracted individuals looking to make a buck, from legitimate businesspeople to gamblers, camp followers and other rough individuals who had a calloused view of legality, equality and fairness.
Experience Theater
Step into Frontier Texas in the museum’s Experience Theater. You will find yourself amidst an Indian attack, a stampede of buffalo and a shootout in the Beehive Saloon.
Guns of the West
See the guns that shaped the wild frontier in Guns of the West. Frontier Texas’ collection chronicles the progression of firearms, from the earliest, muzzle loading, flint-lock type weaponry, to the Winchesters and Colts.
Be sure to stop by Frontier Texas’ General Store. Texas souvenirs including books, t-shirts, jewelry, canned goods and one-of-a-kind items made by local artisans are available to purchase.
Travel Tips
- Frontier Texas is ADA complaint. Complimentary wheelchairs are available.
- Do not forget your camera. There will be exciting photo opportunities in front of the iconic bronze buffalo, the giant buffalo skull and below the Flying Buffalo Herd at Frontier Texas.