MuseumTex Ritter Museum/Texas Country Music Hall of Fame
Carthage · Panola County · Dedicated 2002 · THC Atlas #4200000052
Texas history, up close and curated.
About this site
Tex Ritter Museum/Texas Country Music Hall of Fame is a museum in Carthage, Panola County, dedicated in 2002. It is one of 2 museums documented in Panola County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 132 historic sites cataloged across the county.
The site sits at 32.1574, -94.3420 near Carthage. The nearest cataloged historic site is Panola County Courthouse (courthouse), about 0.1 miles away. Others within a short drive include First Christian Church of Carthage, Carthage Book Club, and Panola Watchman.
This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #4200000052. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
History
The Tex Ritter Museum was established in Carthage in October 1992, spearheaded by Ritter's cousin Tommie Ritter Smith, and was initially housed in the antebellum Hawthorn-Clabaugh-Patterson House. In 1997 the city built a $2.2 million, 13,000-square-foot building to add the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame, whose first inductees in 1998 included Tex Ritter, Willie Nelson, Jim Reeves, Gene Autry, and Cindy Walker. Ritter, a Panola County native, is remembered as country music's first official 'singing cowboy.'
Sources: tshaonline.orgen.wikipedia.org
