Roadside America Museum, Hillsboro, Texas

We saw the Roadside America Museum highlighted on Texas Bucket List and knew it was close to where we usually spend our week out from Tres Rios in Whitney. Hillsboro is about a 30 minute drive from Whitney, so one Friday afternoon we decided to drive down there, have lunch, and then went to the museum.

What a fantastic array of memorabilia from all venues ~ restaurants, soda fountains, cars, etc. We were the only two in the museum that day and were given a personal tour of his museum. Carroll Estes purchased and renovated the Old Ford Dealership Building in order to showcase his collection. 

Carroll Estes is also active in the City of Hillsboro where he has organized and coordinated several major fund raisers for the Hillsboro Department of Public Safety, Main Street and Chamber of Commerce. He has served on the Main Street Board and currently serves on the Hillsboro Tourism Board.

Jim with Betty Boop

Pepe Le Pew

Mr. Koolaid

Coyote having lunch

Sylvester, Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny

Many of the memorabilia in the museum comes from the 1930s through the 1960s. 

He has a few  "Big Boy" statutes that have come from restaurants around the country. I remember going to a restaurant in Cleveland called Manners which had a Big Boy out front.

Ronald McDonald

McDonald's Officer Big Mac

Big Boy - Grapelle

Elvis Presley

Tasmanian Devil (Roadrunner)

Soda Fountain

The summer afternoon is warm and heat radiates from the concrete sidewalks downtown. At the south end of Texarkana's Broad Street a large old glass-fronted store stands. It's window displays will bring back memories for some -- Radio Flyer wagons and trikes, miniature mops and brooms. Younger shoppers will see items that they may not be familiar with at all -- a rub board, a stuffed monkey made from socks, embroidered hankies.

Two slightly recessed doors with heavy glass in solid wood frames have large, brass handles that curve outward to fit the hand just right for pulling. One smooth motion opens the door to the Wellworth Store and entering is like stepping back in time.

Wood counters and glass cases hold some of the same items and brands that have been found continually at Wellworth for the past 60 years. A trip up and down the isles of the store reveals Lady Ester cosmetics and Hoyt's cologne, both popular personal items since the 1940s. There are wooden spinning tops with string to start them, harmonicas and card games, a card of metal jacks with a bouncy rubber ball -- all the things that can be found in any real five-and-ten cent store. The problem is that there aren't many of these wonderful establishments left. Like the term "five-and-dime" they are almost unheard of anymore.

Jim sitting with President Trump

J. Wellington Wimpy

Mr. Peanut

More Big Boy Models

Jolly Green Giant

Buster Brown Shoe models

The Chipmunks

Hamburgler

Goose Creek Penitentiary

The Pep Boys - Manny, Moe & Jack

State Fair Gondola

On the last day of the State Fair in 1979, a man was killed, a woman was paralyzed, and 16 others were injured when the Swiss Skyride, the State Fair's former cable car ride, fell from the sky over the midway. These rides are dramatically different than what they used to be. "It is full of safety features," said Rusky Fitzgerald, the fair's director of operations, of the new Texas Skyway gondola.

Buick 1950's "Peaches and Cream"

The 1959 Buick Invicta Hardtop Coupe “Peaches and Cream” is the custom craft work of celebrated designer Richard Zocchi. Zocchi rose to prominence in the second half of the century by re-imagining some of the most iconic works of the 1950s. Just when cars were getting smaller, safer and more efficient, Zocchi pushed the envelope with bold revisions of American classics. His work became a driving influence in the hot rod movement, and this “Peaches and Cream” Invicta shows precisely why.

Despite Zocchi’s influence on the hot rod movement, this Buick Invicta is about as “un-rodded” as you can get. Many hot rods embellish the original model by adding to its design, but Zocchi’s work on the Invicta is minimal, an example where less is clearly more. The grill is simplified. The hood ornament is removed. The roof line is dropped. It isn’t just a condensed and simplified Buick Invicta, it’s a perfected example of Buick’s original aim without the fluff and branding.

Inside, Zocchi left little of the 1959 Buick Invicta Coupe to its original design. The instrument panel, steering column and glove box are original, but the remainder was upholstered with bubbly “peaches and cream” leather throughout. The interior doesn’t have the same charm as the car’s body, but skin-deep beauty certainly suffices in this case. If you were lucky enough to own this one-of-a-kind cruiser, you probably wouldn’t spend much time in the interior anyway. This isn’t the type of vehicle you take for joy rides. It’s a sculpture that you park in a clean, private space with moody lighting and enjoy to yourself. At least that’s what I’d do with an oil baron’s bank account. In 2014, this type car ran between $40,000 and $60,000.

The Museum also has a large room that can be rented for reunions, birthday parties, company meetings, holiday parties, etc. It has numerous tables with available kitchen. The party room can also host community fundraisers, legislative and chamber forums, and reunions along with family and friends gathering and Classic Car Cruise In. Be sure to give them a call at (972) 291-2958.