Vendors will set up tables of guns, knives, swords, and militaria dating as far back as the Civil War when the Audie Murphy/American Cotton Museum's annual gun show returns to Greenville next month. The two-day event runs September 12 and 13 at the Fletcher Warren Civic Center, with adult admission set at $10 for a full weekend pass.
The show, presented by the museum and reported by the Herald-Banner, will include pieces that may date to conflicts including the Civil War, World War I and World War II. Beyond firearms and edged weapons, vendors are expected to offer books, ammunition, prints and photographs connected to military history, and visitors will be able to browse booths and buy, sell or trade items throughout the weekend.
Doors open at 9 a.m. tomorrow and run until 5 p.m., with next Sunday's hours from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to the same report. Admission for children ages 12 to 16 is $5, while kids younger than 12 get in free but must be accompanied by an adult.
A Museum Rooted in Hunt County's War History
The event is presented by the Audie Murphy/American Cotton Museum, an institution established in 1987 as the Hunt County Museum on a 10-acre site along Interstate 30 in Greenville, according to the Texas Standard. The campus includes the restored 1850s Ende-Gillard House, the oldest surviving residence in Greenville, and the museum added its dedicated Audie Murphy exhibit in 2000.
Murphy, the museum's namesake, was born into a sharecropping family near Kingston in Hunt County in 1925 and enlisted in the U.S. Army at the Greenville post office after altering his birth certificate to meet age requirements, per the U.S. Department of Defense. He went on to earn every military combat award for valor available from the Army before later starring in 44 feature films over a 21-year Hollywood career, including playing himself in the 1955 movie adaptation of his memoir, To Hell and Back. Murphy died in a Virginia plane crash in 1971 at age 45 and was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery, according to the Texas History Notebook.
Bronze Statue and War Memorial on Museum Grounds
The museum grounds also host the Hunt County War Memorial, dedicated in 2004, which features a 10-foot bronze statue of Audie Murphy created by Greenville sculptor Gordon Thomas along with granite tablets bearing the names of 271 local soldiers killed in 20th-century conflicts. The memorial includes etched quotes from Murphy and U.S. presidents, according to the museum itself.
The museum's mission stretches beyond military history. Greenville earned the moniker Cotton Capital of the World in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and was home to the world's largest inland cotton compress, which set international processing records in 1911 and 1912, the Texas Standard reports. Cotton farming drove Hunt County's population from 6,500 to over 47,000 between 1860 and 1900, according to Texas Highways. In 2023, Humanities Texas awarded the museum a grant to construct A Journey Through History, a 24-panel outdoor exhibition along campus walkways highlighting underrepresented local history, and the museum operates with just two full-time staff members alongside community volunteers.
Hosted at the City-Owned Fletcher Warren Civic Center
The gun show will take place at the city-owned Fletcher Warren Civic Center at 5501 Business Highway 69 South, a venue offering 6,587 square feet of total meeting space anchored by a 4,067-square-foot main ballroom with a seating capacity of 270, according to Cvent. The municipal venue regularly hosts community expos and private events. It's named for Wolfe City native Ambassador Fletcher Warren, born in 1896, who served in the U.S. Foreign Service across multiple countries and was named Greenville's Most Worthy Citizen by the local Chamber of Commerce in 1997, per Greenville Parks and Recreation.
Funding for the gun show includes, in part, City of Greenville hotel/motel occupancy tax revenues. Under Chapter 351 of the Texas Tax Code, municipal hotel occupancy tax revenues allocated to events like this one are legally restricted to projects that directly promote tourism and the local hotel and convention industry, according to the City of Alpine. State law mandates that funded events pass a two-part test demonstrating direct tourism enhancement before those dollars can be spent.
Federal Gun Show Rule Remains on Ice in Texas
The sale of historic militaria and firearms at events like Greenville's show comes as federal oversight of gun show vendors remains unsettled in Texas. In April, the U.S. Department of Justice dropped its federal appeal against a preliminary injunction issued by a Texas federal court, keeping on ice an ATF rule intended to mandate federal licenses and background checks for more sellers at gun shows, Hoodline previously reported. That injunction prevents enforcement of the ATF's expanded engaged in the business rule within Texas, leaving the regulatory landscape for private sellers largely unchanged heading into the September show.
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