THREE TIMES THE HISTORY
City breaks ground on Three Boston Museum
NEW BOSTON, Texas—Texarkana may be Twice as Nice as the Twin Cities, but New Boston historians think they can do one better—and soon will have a museum to prove it.
Board members of Three Boston Museum and Tourist Center broke ground Friday on the building that will hold both the museum and center. The site, which is near the downtown pavilion,
also will house offices of the Chamber of Commerce and New Boston Industrial Development Corp.
Construction will start Monday and take about eight months to complete, said DeWayne Hardage, the museum board president. The grand opening will be either late this year or early 2018.
The project is expected to cost $1 million, which will be paid with revenue from the city’s hotel tax.
Once the building is complete, Hardage said the board will seek local donations of historical artifacts to display inside the museum—a project that has been about two years in the making.
“I think this museum will bring people back to the city’s downtown area,” Hardage said. “I’ve always wanted to have something in town like this.”
Hardage said the museum’s mission is to focus on how New Boston was born and evolved into three cities—Old Boston, Boston and New Boston.
“We also plan to put in a farm kitchen setting right inside the museum, as well as focus on the two Texas governors that came from Old Boston—W.T. Lathem and Harding Runnels,” Hardage said.
Hardage also said the museum will feature a military room to pay tribute to the city’s veterans. There also are plans for a founders room, which will feature information on each of the three cities’ founding settlers and residents.
The museum also will contain genealogy and family research information, as well as dozens of historic photographs, historic furniture and census data.
For more information about the museum, call Hardage at 903-277-7522.