{"id":369046,"date":"2026-07-11T02:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T02:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/369046\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T02:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T02:54:09","slug":"a-jewel-heist-still-mystifies-this-100-year-old-texas-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/369046\/","title":{"rendered":"A jewel heist still mystifies this 100-year-old Texas museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Witte Museum<\/a> is a likely spot for San Antonio’s grade school science classes. And even when school’s out, the line can snake across the front when admission is free on Tuesdays, as local parents rush for a cheap (and air-conditioned) summer activity. But in its centennial year, the Witte hopes to stay relevant by being\u00a0more than a field trip.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

CEO and President Dr. Michelle Cuellar Everidge took MySA back in time on a recent tour of the natural history hotspot.<\/p>\n

\"Expect<\/p>\n

Expect long lines at the Witte on free admission Tuesdays, especially during the summer when parents take their kids for a fun trip with air conditioning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Emma Weidmann\/MySA<\/p>\n

The Witte Museum’s century of San Antonio history, including a jewel heist<\/p>\n

The Witte opened on October 8, 1926, after a years-long effort by founder Ellen Schulz Quillin, a school teacher and botanist, alongside her students and a $65,000 donation from Alfred Witte. The museum’s centennial gallery features part of the original Attwater Collection, which serves as a starting point on the timeline.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"These<\/p>\n

These specimens are just a fraction of the Witte’s original 1926 collection, the Attwater Collection.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Emma Weidmann\/MySA<\/p>\n

Everidge\u00a0said the gallery is “all about the ways that the museum was resilient, and the ways that it was innovative, and the ways that it kind of created this space in San Antonio.”<\/p>\n

As visitors walk through, it isn’t just preserved storks, bats and other critters on display. You’ll see decades-old Fiesta gowns, art, centuries-old horse armor and even preserved human organs documenting famous\u00a0galleries, traveling exhibits and moments in Witte history. What you won’t see is the real McFarlin Diamond, a 49.73-carat canary jewel the New York Times<\/a> described as “a pale yellow stone as big as a hen’s egg.” Instead, its\u00a0replica sits in the original 1968 display.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It was on display here during Hemisfair, and it was stolen in broad daylight,” Everidge said. “The diamond was never found again.”<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/p>\n

The Texas Wild Gallery features a new critter, the ocelot. This species is endangered in Texas, and this particular ocelot was preserved after being hit by a car, museum officials said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Emma Weidmann\/MySA<\/p>\n

What are the Witte Museum’s best exhibits?<\/p>\n

There are 400,000 artifacts inside the museum, so block off about three hours to explore the whole thing, and prepare to feel a little childlike again. Aside from the\u00a0dinos and the Witte centennial, there are also galleries on Texas wildlife history (featuring a ledger from the historic\u00a0Menger Hotel). The most breathtaking is the McLean Family Texas Wild Gallery, which features real animal specimens of Texas’ major regions in a walk-through natural history display \u2014 one of the first of its kind. George Strait narrates the\u00a0immersive Sounds of South Texas inside the gallery.<\/p>\n

Everidge said each specimen and artifact tells their own story. However, the projection of the\u00a0White Shaman mural (a 4,000-year-old rock painting in West Texas) inside the People of the Pecos gallery is a must-see.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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“The White Shaman mural is so precious and something that is really so special to see that sort of rises to the top as a way that we understand people that came before us and the ways that they made meaning in the world,” Everidge said. “It’s spectacular that you get to be a part of, you know, thousands of years of someone’s history.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A projection of the White Shaman mural is the highlight of the museum’s People of the Pecos exhibit. The Witte is the steward of this 4,000-year-old rock art in West Texas.<\/p>\n

Emma Weidmann\/MySA<\/p>\n

What comes next for San Antonio’s Witte Museum at 100 years?<\/p>\n

The Witte has been through a few changes, including a $100 million, 170,000-square-foot renovation and expansion completed in 2017. To celebrate the centennial year<\/a>, a gallery on Texas food traditions will open in the fall, and the museum brought back the 21+ event, Cocktails and Culture. There are also events coming when the real birthday arrives, including a 100th anniversary book\u00a0signing with the museum’s previous director and CEO, a family-friendly bash with activations and children’s admission price for all, and a 21+ concert to wrap it up.<\/p>\n

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“I think the Witte has been the museum where people came on their first field trips to museums, but they may not have been back,” Everidge said. “That’s what we’re trying to do is invite people to come back to the museum, bigger than your field trip 20 years ago, and get to explore.”<\/p>\n

Find it: 3801 Broadway, San Antonio, TX 78209<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Witte Museum is a likely spot for San Antonio’s grade school science classes. And even when school’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2527,820,82,84,83],"class_list":["post-369046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-mysalifestyle","tag-mysastaff","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}