Museum on the Move

Dallas Holocaust Museum gets new name to go along with brand-new home

The Dallas Holocaust Museum will build a new location in the West End Historic District in downtown Dallas.

Photo courtesy of Dallas Holocaust Museum/Center for Education and Tolerance

The Dallas Holocaust Museum/Center for Education and Tolerance, a fixture in the city since 1984, has announced that it will build a new permanent home in the West End Historic District in downtown Dallas.

When the new location opens, the museum will also have a new name, the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum, a change that was done in response to recent events and general societal landscape in Texas.

“At a time when Texas leads the nation in the number of active hate groups, and the Dallas community is still healing from the July 7 attack on local law enforcement officers, the most violent and hateful act against law enforcement officers since 9/11, we believe the mission of the new Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum is more important than ever,” said museum president and CEO Mary Pat Higgins in a release.

The new museum will be built on what is currently a parking lot directly across the DART Rail corridor from the museum's current location at 211 N. Record St. The property, located at the intersection of Houston Street and Pacific Avenue, is already owned by the museum and is diagonally across Houston from the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.

The new museum, being designed by Omniplan Architects, will be around 50,000 square feet, four times the museum's current size, and will be able to accommodate more than 200,000 visitors a year.

Among the features to be showcased at the new museum will be new exhibit galleries on human rights and American ideals, interactive content and technology, an original boxcar used by the Nazis to transport Jews and others during the Holocaust, a 250-seat theater, new classrooms, an expanded library and archive, and a special reflection and memorial area for visitors.

The museum is in the middle of the campaign to raise funds for the new location. So far, it has raised more than $43 million of the expected $61 million budget. Construction will begin when the goal is reached, with officials expecting the project to take around two years.

The museum, started by a group of local survivors to preserve the memory of what they had endured, was originally named the Holocaust Memorial Center and located in the basement of the Jewish Community Center building on Northaven Road in North Dallas. In 2005, the renamed Dallas Holocaust Museum/Center for Education and Tolerance opened at its current location.

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In from the cold

Warming centers open across Dallas-Fort Worth during weekend winter storm

Photo by Dan Gold on Unsplash

Warming centers will provide blankets and meals to those in need.

As Dallas-Fort Worth braces for brutally cold temperatures, freezing precipitation, and possible power outages this weekend, local city buildings and nonprofits are opening their doors as warming shelters. Here is a running list of places where people can go to safely warm up and rest. The list will be updated as more are announced.

Austin Street Center, in partnership with the City of Dallas and OurCalling, is activating an Inclement Weather Shelter at Fair Park’s Automobile Building, at 1010 1st Ave., Dallas, beginning at 4 pm Friday, January 23. It can accommodate 1,200 individuals and will offer shuttle service, meals, restroom facilities, blankets, and a safe, heated space for those experiencing homelessness. (Note: Austin Street's shelter location at 2929 Hickory St. will not be in operation this weekend.)

Dallas Public Libraries and Recreation Centers are open during regular hours as warming and charging stations.

The Office of Homeless Solutions provides help for unsheltered individuals in Dallas.

The Salvation Army has several warming stations available across Dallas, Tarrant, and Denton Counties. They'll provide shelter and warmth, food and drink, emotional and spiritual care, and additional supplies to anyone in need. Locations are:

In Dallas County, the Garland Corps Community Center (451 W. Avenue D, Garland) and Carr P. Collins Social Service Center (5302 Harry Hines Blvd.)
In Tarrant County, the Arlington Corps Community Center (712 W. Abram St., Arlington) and J.E. & L.E. Mabee Social Service Center (1855 E. Lancaster Ave., Fort Worth)
In Denton County, the Denton Corps Community Center (1508 E. McKinney St., Denton) and Lewisville Corps Community Center (880 Fox Ave., Lewisville)

The City of Arlington has additional overnight shelters available:

First United Methodist Church, 407 N. Mesquite St. Open on dates when overnight temperatures reach 32 degrees or less for four or more consecutive hours.
Nations Church Arlington, 1013 W. Park Row Drive. Open continuously from noon Friday-Monday as both a warming center and an overnight shelter.
All Arlington Public Library locations and recreation centers are open to the public for warming, in designated areas, during standard operating hours.
The Arlington Animal Services Shelter accepts pets of homeless individuals as capacity allows.

The City of Fort Worth manages an emergency overnight overflow sheltering program when temperatures reach certain thresholds and regular emergency shelters are at capacity. If regular emergency shelters and beds are full when people arrive, they will be relocated to available overflow beds at one of the available additional emergency shelter locations, the city says.

They advise that individuals experiencing homelessness should first access one of the regular emergency shelters:

Union Gospel Mission (1321 E. Lancaster Ave.)
Presbyterian Night Shelter (2400 Cypress St.)
Families should go to the Salvation Army's J.E. & L.E. Mabee Social Service Center (1855 E. Lancaster Ave., Fort Worth)

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