A staple of the Broadway corridor in San Antonio, the Witte Museum turns 100 years old this month. Marking a century of school field trips and family outings, MySA wants to know: what’s your favorite Witte memory?
These days, the hallmark of the museum is the massive dinosaur casts that make the entry feel like stepping into a prehistoric world. But it also features an immersive Texas wildlife exhibit complete with real animal specimens and wild noises, a South Texas heritage gallery, a gateway into the world of the People of the Pecos, and many other opportunities for learning. Throughout the years, traveling exhibits have also landed at the Witte, taking visitors on explorations through space and even the human body.
It all started with founder Ellen Schulz Quillin, a school teacher and botanist. The Witte opened on October 8, 1926, after Quillin and her students’ years-long effort and a $65,000 donation from local businessman Alfred Witte. The first exhibitions — the H.P. Attwater Collection — were wildlife specimen dioramas built by Quillin’s students, and visitors can see these on display as part of the centennial celebration. But one of the museum’s most mysterious moments came during Hemisfair 1968, when a 49.73-carat canary jewel called the McFarlin Diamond was stolen there in broad daylight, never to be seen again.
Let us know what fond memories you have of a visit to the Witte as it celebrates a century in San Antonio.