The Witte Names Its First-ever Permanent Dino Gallery

Dinosaur lovers take note, the Witte Museum's first indefinite dinosaur gallery will open in the spring of 2017.

Dubbed the Naylor Family Dinosaur Gallery, visitors will experience 3-D animated dinosaurs that roamed Texas ages ago; a life-size Tyrannosaurs rex; and an Acrocanthosaurus, a large Lone Star State carnivore whose prints can still be seen in Government Canyon State Park. Visitors will also be able to excavate dino bones — virtually and in reality — and learn how paleontologists study those terrible lizards via a new research lab connected to the gallery. There will also be educational programming and curator-led conversations.

Witte Trustee and Will Smith Foundation President Susan Moulton donated $4 million, which is one of the larges private gifts in the museum's history, to create the gallery.

“Susan Moulton is ensuring a top tier, dynamic dinosaur gallery, which will focus on the massive animals that lived here millions of years ago,” Marise McDermott, president and CEO of the Witte Museum, says in a press release.

Moulton says her sons loved the Witte when they were little and she hopes her donation inspires others to do the same, at all-levels of giving.

“If it weren’t for the dinosaurs, we wouldn’t be here. And so it is a euphoric feeling to honor our past with a gift that helps the Witte build its future,” Moulton says. 

The announcement follows the halfway point of the museum's largest makeover ever. To the tune of $100 million, the Witte is expanding and renovating. In spring 2017, the museum's Main Building reopens with four new galleries, including the Naylor Family Dinosaur Gallery.