Keith Lusher 11.21.25
A tiny town on the High Plains is drawing national attention thanks to one man’s determination to keep frontier firearms history alive. In Nazareth, Texas, population roughly 300, the Up in Arms Museum has quietly become one of the most unusual frontier firearms collections in the country. The private museum sits just off North 4th Street, inside a Victorian bed and breakfast called the Yellow Rose Inn, and showcases guns once owned by some of the most iconic figures in American history.
The museum is the creation of Dale Acker, a lifelong Panhandle resident who says the project started with a single purchase. Years ago, he came across a rifle with a remarkable backstory. That led to another find, then another, and eventually an obsession with collecting firearms that came with verifiable historical narratives. Acker said he reached a point where the hobby felt incomplete unless he could share it with others.
He and his wife had already built the bed and breakfast she always wanted, but a museum was never part of the plan. When he mentioned the idea, locals thought the couple had lost their minds. That changed the moment visitors saw what he had gathered. Today, people arrive from across the region to walk through the rooms and hear the stories Acker has researched and documented.
The collection now includes more than 100 pieces, and many carry national significance. One of the centerpieces is a rifle once owned by Davy Crockett during his years in Tennessee. The museum also displays revolvers linked to Wyatt Earp, items tied to Buffalo Bill Cody, and even a pistol connected to General Santa Anna. Other artifacts include knives, holsters, handwritten documents, and memorabilia tracing the era of frontiersmen, outlaws, and lawmen
Acker handles each tour personally and says visitors often react with disbelief when they realize they are holding items tied to legends they learned about in school. He believes these objects survive only if people choose to preserve them, and he warns that countless historical items are lost when families sell them off or toss them away.
His goal is to make the museum an anchor for the small farming community. Nazareth sits an hour from Amarillo, surrounded by cotton fields and ranchland, but Acker hopes the project gives travelers another reason to explore the Panhandle. Many pair their visit with trips to Palo Duro Canyon or the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon.
The Up in Arms Museum operates by appointment, and tours are available by calling or emailing Acker directly. He says interest has grown since local media coverage and a recent traveling exhibit that highlighted some of the most notable pieces. For him, the reward comes from sharing the stories behind the guns rather than simply owning them.
Acker puts it simply. If people do not take care of their history, then eventually it disappears. His small-town museum aims to make sure it does not.
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