BONNIE AND CLYDE WAX DISPLAY
The Southwestern Historical Wax Museum


The old Bonnie & Clyde Display




photo of the old sign - courtesy of Ken M. Holmes Jr. 




The Southwestern Historical Wax Museum was founded by W. Thomas Bolton,
John A. Prather, and J. C. Brown. The museum's exhibits included figures
of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, and also a collection of firearms
once owned by the outlaws. By 1972 the museum had moved to its Grand
Prairie location. A fire destroyed it in 1988.

Renamed The Wax Museum of the Southwest, the institution originally
opened in the Varied Industries Building at Fair Park, Dallas, in September
1963. In January 1989, after the fire, the owners of the museum, Classic
Attractions,Inc., announced the construction of a new wax museum on the
site of the old museum. They renamed it the Palace of Wax.

Southwestern Historical Wax Museum of Grand Prairie, Texas, in October 1987



Bonnie and Clyde Movie Display





Part of the Outlaw's Gun Collection

photos courtesy of Cathie Meyer




WHERE ARE THE WEAPONS NOW????
The Schwend Gun Collection originated from Henry Harrison Schwend a Clay County
Deputy Sheriff and City Marshal in Henrietta, Clay County, Texas. He began his law
enforcement career in the late 1880's. He started collecting firearms at the same
time. Before his death in 1924, he had amassed a collection of more than 150 weapons,
many, owned by famous outlaws and lawmen. In 1924, his brother Burton P. Schwend
also of Henrietta inherited the collection and added another 150 firearms to the
already vast collection before his own death in 1947. Without the family's knowledge,
the collection was sold by his widow to a pawn shop in Wichita Falls, Texas, which
eventually ended up in the Southwestern Historical Wax Museum in Grand Prairie, Texas.
Then in 1988, under very curious circumstances, the museum burned to the ground and
the entire collection was lost. Fueled by the wax figures, the fire was devastating.
The remains laid exposed to the elements for six weeks while the insurance company
negotiated a settlement with the owners. A number of pieces vanished from the ashes,
while others were retrieved by adjustors. It is estimated that 150 were simply bulldozed
and hauled to the landfill. The remaining parts and pieces, which comprised around 150
weapons, were sold off, piece by piece to individual collectors.


YOUR HELP IS NEEDED IN REGARDS TO THE WHEREABOUTS
OF ANY OF THE GUNS LOST IN THE WAX MUSEUM FIRE
Visit the Schwend Family website to learn more...

The Schwend Gun Collection






photo courtesy of Selby Schwend

Above photo shows one of the displays featured at the museum at the time of the fire.
This case had contained Clyde Barrow's 12 gauge shotgun, shown on the middle left.
It was not part of the Schwend family collection, but was on loan to the museum by
another collector. The weapons, above and below the Barrow gun had belonged to John
Wesley Hardin as did the Colt Single Action Arm on the right. These articles were in
Case #6 in the lower unit. The case had sustained very heavy damage during the fire.




Hideout note: The void that was left by the loss of the Southwestern Historical Wax Museum
was later filled by the construction of the Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum/Palace of Wax.
although in my opinion, the certain flavor of these old-time attractions can never truely by replaced.






Sam Love photo





Movie deathcar following museum fire.




Bonnie & Clyde
Royal Pacific Wax Museum
Newport, Oregon