What to See in Abilene - Top Sights and Attractions

Museum in Abilene, Texas. The Grace Museum is located in Abilene, Texas, United States. The museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. The Grace Museum houses five art galleries featuring rotating art exhibitions and artwork from the permanent collection; a history gallery with permanent and rotating exhibits featuring Abilene, Taylor County, and West Texas artifacts; an art library; an education center and an interactive gallery for children and families. The Abilene Fine Arts Museum was founded in 1937 by the Art League of the Abilene Woman's Club. The art museum was housed in various downtown locations and Rose Park before the current facility was renovated in 1992. Since 1992, the museum has existed as The Museums of Abilene, Grace Cultural Center and the name was officially changed to The Grace Museum in 1998.^[1]

Theatre in Abilene, Texas. The Paramount Theatre is located in downtown Abilene, Texas at 352 Cypress Street.

The Paramount was built in 1930 by H. O. Wooten, adjacent to his Hotel Wooten. Opening night was May 19, 1930, with the film, Safety in Numbers starring Carole Lombard. On February 12, 1931, Universal Pictures selected the Abilene Paramount, along with a few others in the Interstate Theatre chain, to exhibit the 1931 horror classic Dracula, a full two days before its Valentine's Day premiere. The Paramount continued to operate as a movie theater until the 1970s, when the decline of downtown Abilene resulted in declining box office revenue. The theater was closed in 1979 for the first time since opening in 1930. The Abilene Preservation League formed the Paramount Committee to prevent the building from eminent demolition by working with the National Register of Historic Places. The Paramount was later restored with funding from Julia Matthews and the Dodge Jones Foundation in 1986. The Paramount currently features: films, live theatre performances, 1,187 split-aisle seats, Spanish-Moorish interior, and a domed ceiling with moving clouds and glittering stars.

At the Paramount, visitors can catch performances featuring: Abilene Ballet Theatre, the Abilene Opera association, the Celebration Singers, the Abilene Children's Performing Arts Series, Abilene Community Band, the Classical Chorus of Abilene, and a large variety of professional and amateur shows.

The theatre also produces live theatre. In 1993, the Paramount began putting together the annual Paramount Summer Musical. Every summer, for decades the theatre has put on productions casting local amateur actors, and employing some of the best musicians, choreographers, set designers, and costumers from the area. The theatre has also worked closely with all three local university theatre departments. In 2003, the Paramount began an annual children's show each January. And in 2016 the theatre began staging a play each September.

The Paramount is best known, though, as a movie house. The annual Paramount Film Series has shown hundreds of films since the relaunch of the theatre in 1987. In 2019, over 14,000 people came to see a movie at the Paramount.^[2]

Private university in Abilene, Texas. McMurry University is a private Methodist university in Abilene, Texas. It was founded in 1923 and named after William Fletcher McMurry. The university offers forty-five majors in the fields of fine arts, humanities, social and natural sciences, education, business, and religion, and nine pre-professional programs, including nursing, dentistry, medicine, pharmacy, veterinary, and law.

McMurry has 1,145 students. Methodist students constitute 27 percent of the student population. Ninety five percent of students are Texan. Minority groups make up approximately one-fourth of the student body. In the freshman class, 98 percent of students receive some financial aid. Fifty-three percent of students live on campus, and 75 percent of students are involved in at least one extracurricular activity. McMurry boasts a student to faculty ratio of 13:1.

91 percent of the faculty have earned a doctorate or other terminal degree in their field. McMurry is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the Texas Education Agency, the University Senate of the United Methodist Church, the National League for Nursing, and the Texas State Board of Nurse Examiners.^[6]