Museum of the Big Bend

The building where the Museum of the Big Bend is currently housed was built in 1937. It was originally built for the museum but was later used as the Student Union Building. During that time, the Museum of the Big Bend was relocated to a building that is no longer in existence and then again to Lawrence Hall.

Today, the museum is back in its original home which has been renovated to provide a comprehensive exhibit to university students, K-12 students, tourists, seniors and residents of the Big Bend region.

The comprehensive exhibit offers visitors an overview of the geologic, climatologic, geographic, biologic, historic, folkloric and artistic elements that make the Big Bend a unique region of North America, while telling a story of the people who contributed to making the Big Bend what it is today and pointing the way to the future of the region.

The Museum of the Big Bend has been collecting and exhibiting artifacts of the vast Big Bend region for more than 70 years. The goal of the Museum of the Big Bend, together with the Center for Big Bend Studies, is to capture the human history that reflects contributions of the Native Americans, the Spanish, the Mexicans and the Anglo-Americans. These four distinct cultures emerged and shaped the history and heritage of the Big Bend region that have been inhabited for more than 11,000 years.