Since today is the hottest of the week in Del Rio area, we decided to visit two museums in the city and leave hikes and Langtry to cooler days. Our first museum was Whitehead Memorial Museum, and it had some very interesting takes on history.
You’ve probably seen cabooses on trains, at least in the movies since trains today don’t need them. Every caboose we’ve seen had a rooftop observation enclosure where a worker could look out to see what’s ahead, or the worker would lean over the side at the back to swing a light that the engineer could see where the end of the trail was.
The caboose we saw today was called a bay window caboose:
Judge Roy Bean – we haven’t talked about him much but he was a larger-than-life figure in this area. We’ll get to him tomorrow, but for today, they have a replica of the saloon he built and named after Lilly Langtry, an English actress that he had a long-time admiration for and had pictures of her all over the saloon.
outside 
inside
Dr. Binkley – a more modern day “character” in Del Rio. He was a physician with questionable medical practices and had an elixir that he promoted and sold through pharmacies all over the U.S. He made lots of money and died without any of it because of the lawsuits he had to fight.
Dr. Brinkley on the wall of the general store.
One of his biggest claims to fame was the border radio station he established in Del Rio and across the Rio Grande when his radio station was shut down in Texas. The power was so strong in the 1930s and 1940s that the station could be heard in 7 countries! Wolf Man Jack started at this station.
1870s Scouts – key figures in fighting hostile Indians in the late 1880s. Not one scout was killed; amazing!
Murphy bed – In my first apartment in San Francisco in the mid-1970s, I had a Murphy bed. Our RV has a Murphy bed. Here’s the story behind the name:
cabinet with the bed is no more than 4 feet tall.
Del Rio history of flight – first transcontinental flight in 1911, only 8 years after flight began
the railroad tracks across the U.S. and had his own 3-car trail
follow him with supplies, etc.
he knew he wasn’t going to win
For those of you who like statistics, here they are for the Vin Fiz flight:
info extracted from Flight of the Vin Fiz by E.P. Stein
In the afternoon we went to Laughlin Heritage Museum run by Jim Long, an Air Force desk clerk from Vietnam era who has a love of flying of the Air Force. His son, John, is currently a major in the Air Force. Laughlin Air Force Base is just outside of town.
Jim walked us around the museum telling us about every display from Pearl Harbor to the present. The museum’s second room is all about the U2 program. Much of its history has been declassified, and Jim know it all. Barney took the lead as we walked around this museum—surprise, surprise.
that cameras used to take pictures.
In-between museums we went to local favorite restaurant of Billy’s from the Whitehead Memorial Museum, Polly’s. Yum.
