DAR chapter keeps 90-year-old Fair Park house open, with new exhibit on women of 1776

Just inside the front gate at Fair Park stands a 90-year-old colonial-style house. The Jane Douglas Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution has owned and cared for it since 1937, and every year during the State Fair of Texas it opens to the public.

The Continental DAR House started out as the Hospitality House. Continental Oil Company, known as Conoco, built it for the 1936 Texas Centennial. During the exposition it held a Texas travel information bureau and offered fairgoers a seat in air-conditioned rooms. "They mapped trips out for people to use gas," chapter regent Sarah Gunderson told NBC 5. "So afterwards, they gave the house to our chapter." The DAR deeded the house to the chapter in October 1937. In 2016 the Texas Historical Commission named it a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.

Many visitors first come in for the prices. Water is $1 a bottle, and snacks and sodas cost less than at some other spots at the fair. This year, inside, the chapter has a new exhibit marking America's 250th anniversary. Using display panels and artifacts, it covers the service, rebellion and hardship of women and girls in the American Revolution, stories that often get left out. Visitors can also learn about history, genealogy and patriotism.

Chapter members pay to keep the landmark going. They spend their summers making crafts to sell in the house's boutique during the fair. Money from those sales goes toward preserving the building. Because the house is historically designated, repairs have to meet Texas Historical Commission standards. The chapter also keeps a genealogy library of more than 3,000 volumes.

This story is based on original reporting by Sara Sanchez of NBC 5 DFW, with more details from the State Fair of Texas, the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, the Texas Historical Commission and North Texas Giving Day.