Remains of a John Wayne co-star among the exhibits at Butler showcase in League City
By RUTH RENDON
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
LEAGUE CITY - A historic local home's four-year transformation into a museum honoring a breed of Texas' most famous bovine could be complete this spring, giving visitors a look at the creation of the Butler Longhorn and the remains of a famous longhorn that appeared on film with John Wayne.
Jennifer Wycoff-van der Wal, curator of the Butler Longhorn Museum, spends most of her days herding up memorabilia and artifacts that tell the history of the beast named for League City rancher Milby Butler, who created the breed. It's an unexpected labor of love for a woman who had never even heard of a Butler Longhorn before leaving Europe for League City in 2002.
Wycoff-van der Wal is overseeing not only the museum's collection but the facility's construction on the 10-acre complex that once belonged to League City banker Walter Hall and his wife, Helen. League City purchased the site along the banks of Clear Creek for $595,000 in 2001. Since then, crews have spent an additional $772,500 to remodel and enlarge the 8,000-squarefoot, three-story home into a museum that will commemorate the animal known for its 'long twisted horns and red-andwhite speckled coloring. Wycoff-van der Wal, who worked on land development projects in Europe for many years, was not familiar with longhorns - or any kind of cattle. In 2002, her husband took job at Johnson Space Center, and she found herself looking for work in the area. Now she is an expert on the Butler Longhorn.
Wycoff-van der Wal, for instance, will tell you the animal was bred to be tall enough so the area's cacti wouldn't hurt its underside. "It's the most viable of the seven longhorn breeds because of its genetics," she said. Wycoff van der Wal routinely is invited to auctions of Butler Longhorns where she makes presentations about the museum and is awarded a percentage of the auction sales. The museum is operating mostly on donations and grants. Wycoffvan der Wal and John Napier, the museum's maintenance worker, are the only employees.
Memorabilia donated
Longhorn breeders throughout the country and in Europe have donated mounted corkscrew horns and a variety of Butler Longhorn memorabilia, including a 1949 license plate that belonged to one of the Butler ranch trucks. The Butler family migrated to the area in 1854 from Calcasieu Parish in Louisiana and owned about 50,000 acres over an area now part of League City, Kemah, Friendswood and much of mainland Galveston County.
Included in the hundreds of artifacts collected for the museum is the Butler Longhorn head of "Miss John Wayne," which was preserved by a taxidermist. The longhorn was a gift from Butler to the actor, Wycoff-van der Wal said. He and Butler were friends and Wayne purportedly patterned his cowboy style and long drawl after Butler, she said.
Miss John Wayne was a movie star as well, appearing with Wayne in The Alamo - the longhorn was the lead in a cattle roundup scene, Wycoff-van der Walsaid. The Butlers, helped save the longhorns from extinction, Wycoff-van der Wal said. The League City museum originally was intended to preserve the history of this Galveston County community. "The museum was supposed about League City history but you couldn't tell about the history of League City without the Butler Longhorns," Wycoff-van der Wal said. Plans call for the city to support the museum financially for up to five years, by which time it should be self-sustaining, Wycoff-van der Wal said.
Coveted creatures -
City leaders and members of the League City Heritage Society are hopeful the museum will become a tourist destination.
"The Butler Longhorns are some of the most coveted longhorns in the country today. Even though it was Mr. Hall's home, the city purchased it to showcase the Butler Longhorns," said Janice Hallisey, a civic volunteer. The museum complex feature a small wood-frame farm home that once belonged to the Sebastian Ghirardi family. That 750-square-foot home is being renovated to illustrate the family's lifestyle in the 1900s. The Ghirardis grew fruit in the area.
4-YEAR PROJECT
The League City museum has been four years in the making.
Butler Longhorn: One of seven longhorn bloodlines created by League City rancher Milby Butter in the early 1920s. Renovation costs: $772,500 a Amenities: Pasture for Butler Longhorns; play area with forts, fishing, fruit groves and walking trails.
