History of the White Deer Land Museum
The last two co-managers of the White Deer Land Company were Englishmen, M.K. Brown and C.P. Buckler. They dissolved the company in 1957, after most of the land was sold . In four counties, Roberts Carson, Gray and Hutchinson, they had sold 641,000 acres of land.
Mr. Brown bought the two- story building, with the intent of making it into a museum. He and his secretary, Mts. Clotille Thompson, went to seminaries, work shops, and learned the accessioning most used in this state and area. Much work needed to be done on the building and there was very little cash in the beginning. They had started on the project, when M.K. Brown was killed in a car wreck in 1964, which left Mrs. Thompson with the work to complete.
Mrs. Thompson opened the museum in May 1970, with only one floor available to the public. About 5-7 years later, she remodeled and opened the second floor. When the Land Company used the building, they only needed an office, so many of the rooms were rented out. Pampa’s fourth post office was put in the downstairs, and at one point, the Catholic Church, Holy Souls, met in the largest downstairs room. There have been dentists, abstractors, barbers, attorneys, and many other professional people who have used both floors for office space. Now we have some 34 rooms, large and small, filled with artifacts.
Mrs. Thompson remained at the museum as its first curator for twenty years. She retired in 1990. All artifacts are donated and Gray County people did a wonderful job of saving the better furniture, photographs, and textiles for her. We are listed as a General History/Restored Building museum in the state of Texas. In 1995, our boards purchased a building next door and we moved our offices and traveling displays to this building known as the Holland Wing, in memory of Art and Ruth Ann Holland.
