See inside a 1941 Fort D.A. Russell Christmas Menu!

Click HERE to see inside....a Christmas menu from Fort D.A. Russell in 1941, plus places you can still visit in Marfa to put you back in the Fort during W.W.II.

The full document is part of our continuing series on "Dining Along Historic Highways!"

Happy Holidays to everyone from the Texas Mountain Trail!  And hearty thanks to the Museum of the Big Bend, Marfa Public Library/Portal to Texas History and Monte Riggs for content for this special feature!  Y'all are great!

JOIN the Texas Mountain Trail!  Click HERE!

Marfa in World War II

View of the Chinati Foundation, formerly Fort D.A. Russell, Marfa

Marfa's new Tourism and Visitors Center is in their 1940 U.S.O. Hall just south of the intersection of Hwys 90 and 67.

Interior of Marfa's U.S.O. Hall with the original dance floor!

The Texas Historical Commission has a great brochure on Texas in World War II...here's the text on Marfa:

"Visitors searching for the mysterious Marfa Lights are actually gazing across the site of one of World War II’s top flight training installations, Marfa Army Air Field. Part of the base’s front gate remains near the Marfa Lights viewing station. Nearly 8,000 pilots once trained here in AT-17s, B-25s and P-38s on five wide runways up to 7,500 feet long. Marfa Army Air Field had a sister installation nearby, a World War I-era horse cavalry outpost called Fort D.A. Russell. The base trained U.S. soldiers and held nearly 200 German prisoners of war. Two POWs were artists who painted elaborate murals inside Building 98, where top U.S. generals socialized in the officers club. The paintings depict U.S. Western scenes as seen through the eyes of Germans who learned about cowboys from watching movies. The rare murals garnered Building 98 a spot in the National Register of Historic Places; the structure is also a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
 
Fort D.A. Russell closed in 1946 and various individuals bought the property. Three decades later, New York minimalist sculptor Donald Judd turned many of the structures into a contemporary art museum, the Chinati Foundation. A one-time warehouse, six former barracks and two artillery sheds now contain works by various artists."

Pillars, a remnant of Fort D.A. Russell, Marfa

You can download the entire brochure from this page.

Your Sneak Peak: 1940 USO Hall in Marfa, now the city's Tourism Office and Visitors Center

Marfa's 1940 USO Hall, now a visitors center and tourism office for the city
(Photo: Tex Toler)

Marfa's new (and first) city tourism office and visitor center is in a very special place, a 1940 USO Hall.  Once the place for dances and celebrations for soldiers at Fort D.A. Russell, the town renovated the building in recent years, while maintaining the character of the original hall.  Walk inside and it doesn't take much imagination to picture the dance floor full of soldiers and their dates swinging to Big Bands!  There are plans for more photos and an interpretive exhibit to tell the history of the building.

The town's building a new tourism website at http://www.visitmarfa.com/, and right now most of their activity is on the facebook page here.  Step into the visitor center just a block south of the intersection (the flashing light at the four way stop) of Hwys 90 and 67.  Stop in for brochures, friendly conversation and travel advice!

Or, if you're planning a special event in Marfa, consider booking the hall for a unique setting for your group!