Experience the Blackland Prairie
Collections & Exhibits
The Heritage Farmstead Museum has enclosed and open air exhibition galleries featuring topics related to local North Texas history. Exhibitions are featured in the authentic restored Farrell-Wilson House, Young House, and around the Farmstead grounds.
Exhibit spaces rotate about once a year so there is always something new to see. Be sure to return often to learn more about North Texas Farm life on the Blackland Prairie.
Collections
The HFM has a variety of furniture and domestic items from the Victorian Era. All items, if not belonged to the Farrell-Wilson’s, belonged to other prominent Plano family members from the time period or are Victorian Era replicas.
Some notable items include: a William Morris chair, a leader in the Arts and Crafts Movement; a Sanger Bros. Victrola; various irons from the 1800’s through the early 1900’s; and an early telephone from The American Bell Telephone Company.
Tools for all kinds of craftwork were part of daily life on Blackland Prairie Farms in North Texas. We have on display: farming tools and equipment; curing tools; livestock management tools; and potting tools and equipment.
The HFM also has a working blacksmith’s shed to show and demonstrate the trade and tools of a blacksmith shop in Victorian Era North Texas.
The Young House was built by one of Plano’s original settler families, the Sam Young family, who moved to the area from Illinois in the 1840s.
Interestingly, it exhibits building techniques and materials of a time period earlier than the 1880s. Raised up on bois d’arc posts, the Young House can be considered a late example of the Gothic Victorian three-gable style, very basic but still considered grand for its time and place.
Gladys Young, the last inhabitant of the home and daughter of its builder, lived in the Young House her entire 94 years without the benefit of indoor plumbing. Electricity was run to the home only a few years before Gladys Young passed away in 1998.
The HFM library consists of books containing information about the history of: Plano, North Texas, Blackland Prairie life, Texas and Native Americans in the Texas region.
Additionally, other subjects include: Victorian Era, Victorian Dress, Victorian Era gardens, antiques, American Windmills, children’s books, and much more.
Permanent Exhibits
The current exhibition is our comprehensive and representative overview of Blackland Prairie farm culture and history from about 1890 to 1936.
This renowned region’s most colorful, nostalgic era of history literally comes to life on its best preserved, authentic, still-standing 4-acre farmstead site.
A farmer’s fortune directly resulted from his own hard work and that of his family’s. The values of independence and discipline have fueled our nation’s tremendous growth and prosperity in all areas of life.
The Farrell-Wilson house was built in 1891 and most of the outbuildings were built in the 1890s and early 1900s
Past Exhibits
This exhibit tells the story of a Victorian family Christmas, complete with sights, scents, and sounds from the era. Victorian families gathered together at Christmas time to trim the tree, listen to stories, and celebrate their faith.
Victorians decorated their trees with flowing ribbon toppers, candles for illumination, and homemade ornaments often made from food – like tasty gingerbread men.
To commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the end of WW l, an exhibit is installed in the downstairs hallway of the FW House. There is a text panel that provides an overview of the exhibit, with WW l recruitment posters on either side. There are two display cases filled with objects from our collection, along with a mannequin on each end. One mannequin is dressed in a WW l uniform and the other in a Red Cross uniform.
To further enhance the experience, there is an interactive tablet with two, 90-second informative videos; one on Trench Warfare and the other on the Poppy and how it became the flower of remembrance.
The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of American honor of Scout Day at the Heritage Farmstead Museum, the Farrell-Wilson House is set with displays of Girl Scout and Boy Scout memorabilia. This includes uniforms, books, sashes with patches, pinewood derby cars, and Girl Scout cookies.
Take your time and enjoy seeing the mementos of early Girl and Boy Scout traditions.
June 23 – November 25, 2012: This glimpse at the history of Plano’s Fire Department as it celebrates its 125th anniversary is dedicated to
the firefighters who have protected and enhanced the quality of life in Plano over the decades of time.
It is dedicated to the citizens who fired pistols in the air as a call to arms when a fire broke out – defying the odds with buckets of water and determined grit.
Support the Farmstead
As a non-profit, we thrive off of the contributions of our local community. Your contribution, no matter how big or small, makes a big difference in our farmstead.