New Texas City Museum surprises many

I stopped on my way out of the Texas City Museum to tell Mayor Matt Doyle that he was right.

He had told me a couple of months back at one of the many banner unveiling ceremonies that the new museum was going to surprise me with its wonders. And he was right.

“I’m not always right,” he said. “But this time, I was.”

Doyle had said earlier in the ceremonies that the Doyle Center, named for his dad, now is the “second most beautiful place in Texas City.”

Chuck Doyle, and Matt’s mom, Mary Ellen, both were at the museum opening to help him celebrate, of course. Really, they were there to help us all celebrate.

And there was a big, big crowd on hand for just that.

I have had a hard time remembering what I saw during my swift tour. I need to go back. I didn’t get upstairs, but I assume the trains still are all there.

There is a big room in front, which can hold a pretty large crowd.

You circle around through exhibits, mostly with enormous pictures of Texas City’s past.

A big section is devoted to the Texas City Disaster. (For the uninitiated, a ship explosion on April 16, 1947, killed and injured hundreds of people and very nearly blew up the whole town.)

That exhibit is sort of a surprise, because for 49 years, everybody who remembered the disaster was trying to forget it.

Then, in the year leading up to the 50th anniversary, people began sharing their stories, pictures were collected for a book and by the time the town got to the three-day memorial, everybody was in tears and there followed what could only be described as a collective catharsis. It was like they had all finally gotten to see a therapist.

And so, the forbidden topic has become a large part of Texas City’s refurbished museum.

The photographic displays seemed especially familiar to me, because I have been part of a large collection of photos, arranged in a year’s worth of decades, which make up the banner collection.

Among the museum photos, arranged in a collage with lights that go on and off to illustrate first one group then another, are pictures of all the folks who have worked on the centennial celebration.

So I showed several of my fellow members that we have our pictures on the wall of a museum — and we’re not even dead.

The museum has a kitchen and it was full of fabulous refreshments, from caviar to cake balls to red and white wine.

There even is a real elevator. It used to have a “lift,” which could only be described as scary.

There are a couple of rooms over on the north, one of which is a small auditorium. There’s a room dedicated to everything Stingaree and it even has a couch.

There’s a big room where children can do hands-on things. Grown-ups, too, I’ll bet.

Next week, I’ll tell you the best part. The people who were there.

Cathy Gillentine is a columnist for The Daily News and can be reached at cgillentine1(at)sbcglobal.net.