Why the Official Home of the Texas Rangers Sits in Waco

Just off Interstate 35 at Exit 335B, where University Parks Drive meets the Brazos, the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum holds a title most museums don't: the Texas Legislature designated it the official state historical center of the Texas Rangers. The city of Waco serves as trustee, which is how a statewide institution ends up tended by one county.

It's really four things under one roof. The Homer Garrison Jr. gallery (named for the man who ran the Department of Public Safety and its Rangers from 1938 to 1968) tells the story across three centuries and keeps more than 14,000 artifacts, from frontier-era Colts to badges. There's the Hall of Fame itself, a research center archivists actually use, and, not for show, the working headquarters of Texas Rangers Company F, one of the agency's regional commands.

That last part is the detail that sticks: while you're reading about Rangers from the 1800s, the modern ones who cover Central Texas are filing reports down the hall.