Fort Worth Museum Expansion Honors San Angelo Women Who Founded Professional Rodeo

SAN ANGELO, TX — The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth will open a $19 million expansion Saturday that includes a major new exhibition honoring the 38 San Angelo women who founded professional women’s rodeo. 

The expansion opens to the public at noon Nov. 7 after a Grand Cowgirl Parade at 11 a.m. Among the new spaces is The 38, which tells the story of the women who gathered in San Angelo in 1948 to protect their place in professional rodeo. They formed the Girls Rodeo Association, the nation’s first professional women’s sports organization, now known as the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association. 

Country music star and Hall of Fame honoree Miranda Lambert attended a ribbon-cutting Wednesday. Her wardrobe from her 2022-2024 Las Vegas residency, Velvet Rodeo, is the inaugural exhibition in the new Icons Gallery. Lambert said her first visit to the museum in 2021 inspired the residency look after she saw the cowgirl costumes on display. 

The 16,000-square-foot expansion also includes a free full-sized carousel on the second floor, custom-made in San Francisco with hand-painted horses representing donors’ animals and artwork by Fort Worth artist Catherine Cartie. Other additions are a fashion gallery, personal collection gallery, photography gallery, a 250-guest event venue, and dedicated space for K-12 programming. The City of Fort Worth contributed more than $6 million in financing. 

The museum says the expansion is designed to elevate its mission, broaden its reach, and secure the cowgirl legacy for generations.