{"id":452087,"date":"2026-09-30T12:24:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T12:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/452087\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T12:24:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T12:24:22","slug":"celebrate-125-years-of-texas-womans-university-at-the-state-fair-of-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/452087\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrate 125 Years of Texas Woman\u2019s University at the State Fair of Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the years, the Hall of State in Fair Park has featured many different exhibitions during the State Fair of Texas<\/a> including “Mundo Latino: D\u00eda de los Muertos”<\/a> and “Dallas International Coffee Art.”<\/p>\n

This year, the building is home to a special exhibition titled “Blazing New Trails: 125 Years of Texas Woman’s University,” which celebrates 125 years of the school’s history, achievements and legacy. The exhibit will be on display until the last day of the fair.<\/p>\n

The State Fair of Texas is a natural place to host this exhibition, given the university’s ties to two fair favorites including TWU Distinguished Alumna and former faculty member Nell Morris, who first published the Fritos chili pie recipe, and alumna Amber Fletcher, owner of Fletcher’s Original Corny Dogs.<\/p>\n

“This is an exhibit celebrating our history, but it’s really looking at it through the lens of everything that has happened since the beginning, where we’re going today, and what we’ve been able to accomplish in those 125 years,” said Kimberly Johnson, university archivist at TWU.<\/p>\n

Related: TWU plans downtown Dallas college for students left out of higher education<\/a><\/p>\n

Founded in 1901, Texas Woman’s University has welcomed generations of talented students who went on to make their mark. The school has ties to many famous women including Amelia Earhart, Eleanor Roosevelt, Lady Bird Johnson, Florence Nightingale and Wally Funk.<\/p>\n

\"Guests<\/p>\n

Guests visually peruse displays that document and detail the history of Texas Woman’s University. (Steve Hamm\/The Dallas Morning News)<\/p>\n

Fairgoers can get an up-close look at artifacts connected to influential women across art, aviation, space exploration, adaptive fashion, wearable technology, leadership and athletics. Highlights include a first edition of Florence Nightingale’s 1859 book Notes on Nursing, which helped shape modern nursing, and a bomber jacket worn by WASP pilot Elizabeth “Libby” Gardner. A wartime photograph of Gardner in the cockpit of a B-26 Marauder bomber became one of the most recognizable images of the Women Airforce Service Pilots. Most of the artifacts come from TWU’s libraries and special collections.<\/p>\n

\"Jisella<\/p>\n

Jisella Ayala, left, points out campus buildings on a 3D map as she recalls her college days at Texas Woman’s University with her sister Alexa Ayala. (Steve Hamm\/The Dallas Morning News)<\/p>\n

Visitors will also get to take home a complimentary souvenir foldable fan, Texas wildflower seeds and a card bearing the original Fritos Chili Pie recipe.<\/p>\n

“We want everybody to leave here with an appreciation for Texas Woman’s University,” Johnson said. “This is a great opportunity to fall in love with the school and see our commitment and our impact in the communities.”<\/p>\n

“Blazing New Trails: 125 Years of Texas Woman’s University” is on display at the Hall of State in Fair Park from now until Oct. 18. twu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

Subscribe<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Morning Roundup, a free newsletter delivering the latest North Texas news each morning.<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally published at Celebrate 125 Years of Texas Woman’s University at the State Fair of Texas<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over the years, the Hall of State in Fair Park has featured many different exhibitions during the State…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[17804,155397,10504,3933,76458,5253,155396,155399,155398,104964,368,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-452087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-amelia-earhart","tag-dallas-international-coffee-art","tag-dallas-morning-news","tag-dia-de-los-muertos","tag-eleanor-roosevelt","tag-fair-park","tag-florence-nightingale","tag-hall-of-state","tag-kimberly-johnson","tag-lady-bird-johnson","tag-state-fair-of-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452087","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=452087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}