Museum closes
CRESSON — Where else could you see a minesweeper, a ship's screw (that's a propeller to most of us) and a deck gun all in one place?
Not to mention a Piasecki (that's a helicopter) and a Voodoo (a military jet)?
All that and more was part of the Pate Museum of Transportation, off Highway 377 between Fort Worth and Granbury.
It was a place for people who like big stuff — but the museum closed for good on Christmas Eve.
"I loved planes when I was growing up, and I thought it was so cool," said visitor Daniel Vance.
Fort Worth businessman A.M. "Aggie" Pate founded the museum 40 years ago. Admission was free, and the collection was based on things that moved.
Sharon Pate treasures the place that symbolized her father. "He was larger than life. He loved people. He loved doing for the people of Fort Worth," she said.
Inside a large building there were classic cars, from an Edsel to an Eldorado.
"There's a DeSoto in there my wife was driving," said museum visitor Wayne Kuykendall. "Different color, but just like it. But when I met her, she was driving it."
The Pate Museum also housed a couple of capsules — space capsules.
But the fact is, not many people have been coming for several years. So the family has decided to shut the doors.
Their decision leaves a vacuum in history — and in some peoples' hearts.
E-mail bharris@wfaa.com
