In 1926, the Witte Memorial Museum opened in San Antonio. The Witte is named for Alfred G. Witte who bequeathed $65,000 to the city for construction of a museum of art, science, and natural history.

The Witte is located on the banks of the San Antonio River adjacent to Brackenridge Park.  In fact, the Brackenridge Park mini-train has a stop for the Witte. The Witte collection focuses on natural history, science and South Texas history and includes historic artifacts, photographs, textiles, dinosaurs, and the relocated Hertzberg Circus Collection.  The four-story Science Treehouse is specially designed for young children.  In recent years, the Witte has added the Robert J. and Helen C. Kleberg South Texas Heritage Center as permanent home for the Witte’s South Texas collection and focuses on the history of South Texas.  As a child, nothing fascinated me more than the collection of furniture made from longhorns.