Frontier Times Museum
Bandera, Bandera County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built 1933 to house Western collection of J. Marvin Hunter, Sr. (1880-1957), noted historian, journalist, editor and author. Having lived throughout the west, he settled in Bandera as owner of "New Era", 1921-1934. In 1923 he founded "Frontier Times"--a magazine devoted to history, border tragedy, and pioneer achievement. By 1926 he was adding relics to the museum's Western library. He financed construction of museum by sale of his books. Purchased after his death by Mr. and Mrs. F.B. Doane, it is maintained by Doane Foundation. (1965)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in 1933, this building houses the Western collection of J. Marvin Hunter, a historian, newspaperman, and author who had lived across the West before settling in Bandera. In 1923 he founded the magazine "Frontier Times," devoted to pioneer achievement and "border tragedy," and began gathering the relics that filled his museum — a project he financed by selling his own books. After his death the collection passed to a foundation that maintains it still.
Why it matters
The museum is a monument to the early amateur historians who raced to preserve the memory of the Western frontier even as its living witnesses passed away.
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Related people
- · J. Marvin Hunter, Sr.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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Warren Hunter
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Artist John Warren Hunter (1903–93), son of Texas historian J. Marvin Hunter, was a Bandera High School graduate who printed the Harper Herald with his wife Lora before studying at the Chicago Art Institute. After serving in cartographic services during World War II, he opened the Hunter School of Art in San Antonio and became dean of the San Antonio Art Institute in 1950. His woodblock prints, etchings, and paintings of Texas scenes were collected by institutions from the Smithsonian to the White House.
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