Alba’s history resides in the Alba Public Library and Museum. The museum is a piece of historical preservation and a grand mosaic of Alba and surrounding area and is ever-changing.

Founded in 1843 by the Simpkins family, Alba became the county’s largest city. It hosted the railroad, five cotton gins, coal mines, oil fields, cotton farming and cattle ranching. The town bustled with shops, churches, five doctors, a veterinarian and a lawyer. Alba established a school in the 1800s. 

The first museum attraction is the Veterans’ Exhibit. Pictures, letters, uniforms, boot ware and much information on soldiers from the Civil War to present are displayed. This was the first focus for Saundra Burge, museum director. She tracks down every piece of information on Alba and its residents, and many have donated relics. 

The new attraction is the huge ice cream bar from the original Cranford Drug Store, built in 1908 and lasting until 1962. Patrons sat on stools and ordered floats, soda drinks and Boedeker’s ice cream, the most famous ice cream in North Texas at that time. The soda fountain spans 12 feet across and 12 feet high, with ornate woodwork and a huge mirror in the center. The Russell family donated the soda fountain. Many thanks to Bent Tree Cabinets for providing many strong men to deliver and set it up.

Many may not have seen some items donated through the years. A massive horse-drawn road grader sits in the center of the back area. Many farm implements can be seen. A white antique washing machine with a top roller was used in the 1950s. Need your hair curled? Odell Strickland’s Electric Permanent Wave Machine could do the job, used in the 1930s to the late 1950s. Metal clips hang from the top base, and electricity provided the curl, much like today’s curling iron. Odell styled famous-infamous Bonnie Parker’s hair in Greenville.

Music lovers can see the Cecilian Wind Up Phonograph purchased by the Folsom family from Montgomery Ward for $75 in the 1920s. Another oddity is a 1916 dentist chair owned by Alba dentist, L.C. McCalley. It was the first hydraulic chair. Dr. McCally sometimes worked for free, trading for vegetables. The chair came to the museum from Cranford’s Drug Store in 1988.

In the back sits an antique Model T Ford. At one time, the entire building was a Ford dealership for sales and service. From the 1940s, the building served as an appliance store, a lumberyard, a restaurant and a salvage store. 

The library and museum is a piece of historical preservation. After several years of remodeling, creating shelving, buying museum cases, locating books, upgrading donated computer systems and soliciting volunteers, its doors opened March 5, 2011. Come by and visit. Hours are Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Call 903-765-2665, email albalibrary.museum@gmail.com or see the Alba website.