JACK COUNTY MUSEUM 3RD ANNUAL DINNER TOUR

The 3^rd Annual Holiday Historical Dinner Tour, sponsored by the Friends of the Jack County Museum assisted by members of the Museum Board, is scheduled for Saturday, December 1, 2012.  This progressive dinner tour will feature two new locations that are different than those of the past two years. 
 
The Appetizer Course will be served at the Robert McClure home at the corner of West Belknap and 7^th Street.  Guests will pick up addresses for the remaining courses at this first location on the tour.  This home was at one time owned by W.A. Shown and his wife, Mary Stewart Carpenter Shown.  After W. A. Shown’s death, his son sold the home to Stewart Castleberry, who was a partner with W.A. in the Castleberry and Shown cattle business company.  He wanted the home so that his three daughters, Emma McClure, Bertha Flowers, and Gertrude Bilberry, could be neighbors on three corners of Belknap Street.  Dr. and Mrs. McClure raised their family there, where Robert (one of the children) now lives.
 
The second stop on the dinner tour for the Salad Course will be the Jack County Museum, which is located in one of the oldest houses in Jack County.  Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Cooper built the home in 1882 from materials freighted in by wagon from Jefferson, Texas.  The house also witnessed the birth of the “Corn Club” in Texas, later known as the 4-H Club, in 1907 when the founder Tom M. Marks was the resident.  The last owners were Mr. and Mrs. A.A. Files.  Upon the death of Mrs. Lottie Files in 1987, her grandchildren offered to sell the home to the Jacksboro Chamber of Commerce to be used as a permanent site for the Jack County Museum.  Donations came from private citizens, businesses and organizations, including various 4-H Clubs throughout the state.  In 1988, the transaction was finalized and the Jack County Museum moved here to its permanent location.
 
The main course will be offered at Fort Richardson’s Halliburton Building, which was an early home of Halliburton in Jacksboro and was acquired by the fort.  It has been made into a meeting area, which has hosted several events, including receptions and special meals.  Fort Richardson was established in November of 1867 and was named in honor of General Israel B. Richardson, who died in the Battle of Antietam during the Civil War.  The fort was the northern-most of a line of federal forts established after the Civil War. 
 
Finally, guests for this event will be served dessert at the North 7^th Street home of Kevin Kelly, which was the historic home of Portis and Clara Bell Lyles Woolley.  When they were newlyweds, they built the house on the property that originally belonged to his father and mother.  The Wooley family operated a bakery that was first located on the square in Jacksboro, but later expanded to a bigger building on South Main Street.  There they prepared and marketed various bakery goods, including Butternut Bread.
 
Entertainment, including dinner music, will be presented at some locations by local talents.  Additionally, hosts and hostesses portraying historic figures associated with the locations or telling the history of the buidings will be on site at some of the venues.
 
Those interested in attending this very special event should choose a “start time” for the dinner; the “start time” choices are 5:30, 6:00, 6:30, or 7:00 p.m.  Please contact Frances at 940-567-5900, Darlene at 567-3206, or Melinda at 567-6218 for tickets.  Leave a message, with your name and phone number if necessary.  Tickets are $50 per person and only 100 tickets will be sold.  Each “start time” will accommodate approximately 25 people.  The 5:30 p.m. “start time” is full.  Please choose one of the other three suggested times.  All proceeds from this event will benefit the Jack County Museum for maintenance and growth at the museum site.