FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: March 7, 2005
CONTACT: Scott Slemmons, scott.slemmons@ttu.edu
NATIONAL RANCHING HERITAGE CENTER TO ADD NEW WING
LUBBOCK – Groundbreaking for the $3.7 million Christine DeVitt Wing at the National
Ranching Heritage Center at Texas Tech University will occur at 1:30 p.m. Saturday
(March 12).
The addition, with a basement and ground level, will accommodate offices, curatorial
workspace, a boardroom, gallery and reception area. It will open to a landscaped terrace
connecting to the existing Pitchfork Ranch Pavilion. A covered walkway will extend
the length of the wing. The project also includes enhancements to adjacent parking,
landscaping around the addition and incorporation of public art.
“Nearly all of the plans for the expansion of the NRHC’s museum building hinged on
acquiring funding to add the new wing,” said Executive Director Jim Pfluger. “We have
heard the saying that people support success, but someone had to take the lead and
be the first donor. That was the CH Foundation.
“Once the wing is completed, people will see the difference this expansion will make
in the ability of the National Ranching Heritage Center to be the kind of museum we
want it to be, attracting attention for the university and the historical significance
of ranching as an important industry in the West.”
The Christine DeVitt Wing is a long-sought addition to the current DeVitt-Mallet Museum
Building, which was conceived as an orientation or visitors’ center. It featured a
small area for interpretive exhibits about the Old West. As the mission of the National
Ranching Heritage Center evolved over the years to facilitate the interests and requests
of some 70,000 visitors and students annually, more space was required.
The wing will join onto the main building on the east. Renovation of current spaces
will create new galleries, a public meeting room and a classroom with a children’s
library.
“On behalf of the Ranching Heritage Association Executive Committee and the National
Advisory Board, which is responsible for our fund-raising success, we are grateful
to everyone who supported this extremely important project,” Pfluger said.
The NRHC is located east of Indiana Avenue on Fourth Street in Lubbock. Construction
of the 16,000-square-foot facility is coordinated by Texas Tech’s Office of Facilities
Planning and Construction, working with Sandia Construction and architect Bill Adling,
both of Lubbock. Completion is expected in spring 2006.
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CONTACT: Jim Pfluger, executive director, National Ranching Heritage Center, Texas
Tech University, (806) 742-0497, ext 232.