Is The Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum Worth Visiting?

By Kelsey Kennedy | May 13, 2024

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Ok, if you’ve ever looked up things to do in Waco, the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum is probably going to pop up somewhere near the top of the list. And no, it’s not the Texas Ranger of baseball fame (which I thought it was for a hot second, and that would have been weird since the Rangers are in Dallas…) This is a museum all about the actual Texas Rangers. Like, the investigation agency that holds jurisdiction in the state of Texas and helps to oversee the city’s crime scene program. Them!

The Hall of Fame and Museum is a lot to see, and you could spend quite a bit of time there if you’re really geeky and need to read every single word when you visit a museum. Basically, if you’re a super nerd, you’ll want to spend at least a few hours here.

Before you go to the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, here are a few tidbits to help you know what to expect.

Where Is The Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum?

It’s in Waco (duh), and it’s located next to Baylor University. If you’ve ever driven north on I-35 from Austin to Dallas, you’ve actually driven past the Texas Ranger Museum lots of times.

The museum is actually in a really cool location, because it’s across the Brazos Lake from McLane Stadium, Baylor’s big football stadium.

What Is A Texas Ranger?

The Texas Rangers are part of the Texas Department of Public Safety. They were established in 1823 Their main role is to investigate crime, carry out riot control, protect the governor, and basically act as an extra security branch in Texas.

They have a much longer mission list than I’ll share here, and they also have Special Operation Group (SOG) programs with various tasks.

You can kind of think of them as police officers, but a bit more Texas-y. (That’s a very very very unofficial explanation.)

And if you want to know more, go to the Texas Rangers Museum and read all about them!

An Interesting Fact About Texas Rangers

You’ll definitely get a lot of fun facts at the museum, but something you might not know?

There are only about 175 Texas Rangers right now! So it’s a very small branch.

Is The Texas Ranger Hall Of Fame And Museum Worth A Visit?

The museum itself is very robust. I will also essay that it’s a bit dated, too. It’s not all glitz and glam and tall ceilings…it was built in the late 1960s, and it definitely looks the part. It has low ceilings and yellow-ish light, and a lot of small rooms to visit.

But there’s A. Lot. seriously a lot of rooms to walk through and words to read and memorabilia to look at. There’s a bunch to see here.

I found the information about the Texas Rangers’ founding extremely interesting. I had no idea when/why the Rangers were founded, and it was interesting to take it all in and learn something completely new.

There’s also a lot of information about the Rangers who are in the hall of fame and what they did to earn that spot.

My personal favorite part of the museum is the film they show, which is a much easier way for me to absorb a plethora of information about Texas Rangers than reading the writing on plaques.

The cost is also incredibly cheap. You’re not going to be paying “big NYC museum prices” to visit this little Waco non-profit. At the time of writing this, the cost of entry is just $10 for adults and less than that for seniors and children.