Momentum - Business to Business Online Magazine MOMENTUM January 2019 | Page 17
The Butler Longhorn Museum
Re-Opens on
Saturday, January 5, 2019
Interview By: Erin Webb
Communications & Media Director
League City Regional Chamber of Commerce
[email protected]
Monica Hughes has been with the Butler Longhorn
Museum for over nine years. Her passion for the museum is
apparent to everyone that knows her.
She has been
working tirelessly since Hurricane Harvey blew through and
devastated the museum to ensure its re-opening was better
than anyone could have ever imagined. I had the chance to
walk through the museum with Monica in mid-December
and, without question, the museum is more gorgeous than
ever before. Please enjoy this brief Q & A session with
Monica Hughes and mark your calendars to attend the
grand re-opening on Saturday, January 5th!
Q: Why are you so passionate about the Butler Longhorn
Museum?
A: I Truly believe in our local history (if you don't know your
past history, how can you understand your future history?)
And what a history League City has to tell! I love seeing the
smiles from folks visiting the museum when we tell the story
of George Washington Butler, his family members and what
they did for this town; its why we are here today! Also,
when a young person tells me thank you for the tour with
big eyes and a big smile and a big thank you for the tour -
we have done our job! and that's what it’s all about.
Q: Tell us about the devastation the museum faced during
Hurricane Harvey.
A: We lost a lot of contents/supplies, on the first floor of the
museum, garage, barn and education center some artifacts.
It all cost money to replace these items- with the museum
being closed for 15 months we have a long road ahead of
us.
We are taking donations to help replace these items - if
i n t e re s t i n g i n h e l p i n g p l ea s e c a l l t h e m u s e u m
281-332-1393 or e-mail us -
[email protected]
The hardest devastation for me was having to call and tell
folks we were hit by Harvey and we had to cancel
weddings, tours, birthday parties and anniversary events,
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MOMENTUM / January 2019
and we had no idea when we would be able to re-open, some
people just cried. It took 15 months to open our doors - it has
been a tuff road as so many folks in our area experienced and still
experiencing. Our garage, education center and barn has not
been repaired and we have no date as to when this repair will be
done.
Q: What was the economic impact of being out of business for
over a year?
A: Lost revenue, the loss of members of the museum, people lost
interest in the museum because of not being able to tell them
about the museum, also because our doors were closed - with no
date in sight of re-opening.
Q: Anything else you want people to know?
A: We have been very fortunate in having some of our members
and volunteers truly step up to the plate and help supported the
museum during our down time. Several folks have shared with
us- "THIS IS MY TOWN and MY HISTORY" and we want to see this
museum open again! I sincerely want to thank these folks that
believed in the museum and what it stands for, and all the hard
work that they put in over the past 15 months. YOU MADE THIS
HAPPEN!