Birdville Historic Museum – Haltom City, Texas
Being the oldest settlement in Northeast Texas, Birdville Settlement was the former community being incorporated into today’s Haltom City in Texas. The Birdville Historical Society was founded to preserve and educate residents about the Birdville settlement’s history. The museum has preserved photos and artifacts since 1996 and is run by volunteers. Make this the first stop on your list of things to do around Haltom City before you go to other places, and you will understand how the city has become what it is today. From Walmart Neighborhood Market on Boulevard 26, the museum is less than 10 minutes away by car.
BHS is a non-profit 501c3 organization that relies solely on volunteer support and the support of the Birdville Independent School District. Our museum combines artifacts and information from both the community and the school district.
The society’s founder Betty Porter, realized the importance of historic Birdville and began an effort to save artifacts and information for her plan of establishing a museum. She founded the nonprofit historical society in 2000 and built an archive that now is stored at the Birdville Museum.
Birdville Historical Society collects, archives, and makes available to the public facts and relevant artifacts related to the development and history of the Birdville Settlement and School District.
The museum features all aspects of Birdville’s history, including memorabilia donated by area residents and their descendants, such as clothing (including old school letter jackets and cheerleader uniforms), photos, dolls, quilts, and items related to the Garden of Eden (historic black neighborhood). They also have a considerable amount of information pertinent to genealogy and have plans to digitize that information to facilitate research.
The parent organization of the Birdville Museum is the Birdville Historical Society. It was founded in 1996 and became a non-profit 501 c 3 organization in 1996. Its goal is the preservation of the history of Birdville and the communities that are part of the original Birdville Settlement. These include the Cities of Haltom City, North Richland Hills, Richland Hills, and Watauga. A collection of photographs, books, and artifacts was begun by Betty Porter, who is a founder and current leader of the society and its efforts.
In 2011, Birdville School District came to an agreement with the historical society that allowed the use of school district space for the purpose of opening a museum. At the same time, a partnership was formed between the society and a school district retiree, Ida Joe Reynolds, who had saved and stored BISD artifacts and other memorabilia. Her collection included every BISD high school annual published since 1941. This partnership resulted in a museum that covered both the district’s history and that of the Birdville area.
The museum’s photo collection features numerous portraits of community leaders beginning in the late 1800s. There are depictions of the original Tarrant County Courthouse (circa 1850), the first school buildings (circa 1858), and local merchants along the original downtown Birdville location. Portraits of individual leaders include the first county doctor, the family for which the City of Haltom City is named, and a collection of 14 portraits taken by Schwartz Photography of Fort Worth.