A MUSEUM TO
LOOK UP TO
By MARIANNE HUDSON REFLECTIONS WRITER
Skulls clashing, horns thrashing - its like a stampede,
only upside down.
Once complete, the Butler Longhorn Museum skull exhibit
will include an estimated 300 longhorn skulls, possibly
making it the largest collection of its kind.
It just happens to be hanging from a ceiling. "Imagine it
as a flock of birds coming to nest in a tree, " said John
Barber, a museum exhibit designer who pieced dinosaur
fossils at the Houston Museum of Natural Science before
moving on to the Butler museum.
Set inside a 100-year-old converted plantation home, the
museum at 1220
Coryell St., is expected to open in May or June.
In addition to a horned ceiling display. the museum sill
feature longhorn graffiti art as well as a longhorn
sculpture made of melted metal and confiscated weapons from
the Houston Police Department.
In the early 1900s, at a time when longhorns svere nearing
extinction, seven Texas families sought it, save the breed
independently. The Butler family of League City was one of
them.
Millby Butler was fascinated by the longhorns color
variety, so he began breeding then). His greatest passion,
however, developed out of his curiosity with the breed's
horns. Continued hi-ceding resulted in the corkscrew-shaped
born, the most notable trait of the Butler bloodline.
Shortly after Milby's death in 1971, most of the family's
cattle were slaughtered or sent to the auction house. Their
legacy survived primarily through word of mouth until
University of Houston researchers uncovered the bloodlines
history.
When they did, Wycoff said the project was flooded with
Butler longhorn artifacts sent from around the state.
For more information about the Butler Longhorn Museum,
visit,
www.butlerlonghornmuseum.com
Butler Museum curator Jennifer Wycoff and artist Skeez
