For Dallas’ Hall of State, ‘Remember the Alamo’ means a sprawling, 2,000-piece centennial exhibit

Pennsylvania artist Thomas Feely chose to debut the work in Dallas and not at the Alamo in San Antonio.

By Michael Granberry
Dallas Morning News
10:05 AM on Mar 24, 2022

The Battle of the Alamo took place in 1836 and played a pivotal role in Texas becoming its own nation, before emerging as the 28th state in 1845. But 186 years after the battle with Mexico, the Alamo remains a source of mystery and intrigue for millions.

Not to mention controversy.

For one, when most people think of the Alamo, they think of the mission façade, which remains a major national landmark in San Antonio. The truth is, the battle and the grounds of the Alamo occupied a much larger land mass, upon which more than 2,000 people fought and about 500 died, according to Stephen Harrigan, author of the widely celebrated book, The Gates of the Alamo, published in 2000.

For those wanting to know more, the Dallas Historical Society will unveil on March 29 at the Hall of State in Fair Park a major exhibition that documents the full scope of the 13-day battle. It occupies a 14-by-24-foot canvas in the basement of the building, featuring more than 2,000 handcrafted miniatures.

“The name of this diorama is Texas Liberty Forever: The Battle of the Alamo,” says Karl Chiao, executive director of the Dallas Historical Society, which has occupied the Hall of State as a tenant since 1938.

That was two years after Fair Park and the State Fair of Texas served as the central exposition site of the Texas Centennial celebration, to which President Franklin D. Roosevelt paid a visit.

The sweeping diorama, which the Hall of State hopes will lure thousands of visitors to Fair Park, is the creation of an artist named Thomas Feely, who Chiao describes as a 75-year-old who “lives in the woods” in rural Pennsylvania.

Feely has long been drawn to the history of the battle, in which the army of Mexican Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna reclaimed the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar, now known as San Antonio, overcoming (though not without difficulty) the greatly outnumbered Texians and Tejanos inside.

Fueled by revenge, the Texians vanquished the Mexican Army at the Battle of San Jacinto, on April 21, 1836, ending the rebellion in favor of what became the newly formed Republic of Texas — nine years before statehood.

Dallas v. San Antonio

Getting Feely and his diorama to Dallas — during a pandemic, no less — carried its own aura of mystery and intrigue, as does a question that more than a few may ask:

Why is the piece being shown in Dallas and not at the Alamo in San Antonio, where the battle took place?

That, too, is a story.

As for the artist, “He has done so many jobs,” Chiao says. “He has been a police officer. He has been a bar owner. He’s kind of a jack of all trades, but one thing he’s always loved is making little figures. Or figurines. He loves to create these little figurines.”

Feely began assembling the diorama in 2000, which means by the time it was trucked to the Hall of State, he had been working on it for more than two decades.

With the pandemic forcing the cancellation of the State Fair of Texas in 2020, Chiao and exhibits manager Toby Hazelip took a road trip to transport Feely’s Alamo from the backwoods of Pennsylvania to Fair Park.

Chiao’s curiosity had been aroused in December 2018, “when I got a call from a guy who said, ‘There’s the potential of you having this amazing thing in Dallas.’ "

That man is Rick Range, who lives in Dallas and belongs to the Alamo Society.

“I’ve got a friend named Tom Feely,” Range told Chiao. “And he has built a diorama of the Battle of the Alamo.”

Range laid out the particulars — “It is 1/54th scale. It is 14 feet by 24 feet. It has more than 2,000 hand-painted figures.” And then he said, “This was supposed to go the Alamo,” but …

“Because of issues Feely had [with Alamo management],” Range told Chiao, “he was thinking of throwing it away. I told him, ‘You can’t do that. It’s your life’s work. It might not go to San Antonio, but I know there’s a place for it somewhere in Texas.’ "

Which led to Range recommending to Feely that the next best destination would be the Hall of State. Born in Taiwan, Chiao moved to San Antonio when he was 5. Over the years, he says, he has grown weary of the folderol surrounding the Alamo.

As The Dallas Morning News put it in a March 2020 editorial: “The Battle of the Alamo ended in March 1836. Or so we thought.”

But how did Feely’s diorama become entangled in the current-day drama surrounding the Alamo?

“The Alamo has been going in a different direction,” Chiao says with a sigh. “Let’s just say it’s becoming a little more PC [politically correct].”

In other words, to focus on the battle itself is no longer as popular as it once was, amid tussles over race and historical accuracy and the so-called “reimagining” of the Alamo. And in addition to that, politics has also reared its head, with the latest flurry of what The News called “political cannon blasts” pitting one GOP stalwart against another.

That would be Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

Bush v. Patrick

Bush, the son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and the nephew of former President George W. Bush, oversees the General Land Office, which manages the operations of the Alamo. (George P. Bush will face a runoff on May 24, in an attempt to unseat incumbent state Attorney General Ken Paxton.)

Bush has been the target of criticism by Patrick and others over choices he’s made regarding the Alamo. As a headline in The Texas Tribune proclaimed in December 2019: “The latest battle of the Alamo pits Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick against Land Commissioner George P. Bush,” with a subhead adding: “The feud began when Bush was incorrectly accused of trying to erect a statue of Mexican dictator Santa Anna at the Alamo site.”

In 21st century America, the mere mention of the word “Alamo” is guaranteed to entice discussion. But as author Harrigan once said: The subject “is buried in so many layers of myth and counter-myth as to be nearly irretrievable.”

David Lozano, the executive artistic director of Dallas’ Cara Mía Theatre Co., sees the story of the Alamo as being far more complicated than popular history has portrayed it. For one, when the battle occurred, Texas — known then as Tejas — was part of Mexico.

“For Latinos, it’s a question of how we end up being portrayed in Texas history in particular,” Lozano says. “In other words, can we not jump to the conclusion that the U.S. settlers in Texas are automatically the heroes in the story? And stop portraying the Mexicans — or the Mexican government — as the automatic villains or oppressors in the story? To do so, we run the risk of making one side’s version the predominant narrative. It’s important for us to see all of the people in the story as human beings and certainly not as racialized heroes or villains.”

Chiao contends that Feely’s piece is in no way political, nor is it intended to be. Rather, it documents the battle — only. His showcase of visual art documents who fought at the Alamo and what it looked like, as though he were sent there as a photographer, traveling back in time.

This much is indisputable: Yes, there was a battle, and like any battle, it was bloody and awful.

In 1983, Feely made a 4-foot-by-6-foot diorama that, for years, occupied a niche at the Alamo. He had made it for the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, which once managed the Alamo, whose stewardship George P. Bush ended in favor of his own state agency.

After the Daughters of the Republic left the building, Chiao says, so too did Feely’s smaller diorama.

“Feely had an issue with the state over how they wanted to portray it,” says Chiao, who cites the artist’s failing health as why he won’t be coming to Dallas for the exhibition, nor will the Hall of State make him available for interviews.

Feely did reluctantly fly to Dallas in March 2019 to check out the Hall of State and meet his potential hosts. He did not want to stay in a hotel.

So, the Hall of State arranged for him to sleep in an RV parked outside.

Harrigan, whose book on the Alamo has been widely hailed by all sides, mentioned Feely in the pages of Texas Monthly in 2000 and praised his work, in particular his earlier, smaller diorama shown at the Alamo. “A spirited diorama of the final assault by Thomas Feely,” Harrigan wrote, “should not be missed.”

In 2003, Texas Monthly writer Caroline Harper added her praise:
“One of the most dramatic exhibits in this building,” Harper wrote, “is a large diorama depiction of the Battle of the Alamo, constructed by Thomas F. Feely Jr. The model is replete with exquisite detail including tiny Mexican and Texan soldiers, trees, guns, cannons, and even smoke made from cotton.”

And, of course, that diorama was merely a sneak peek of what the Hall of State will unveil.

Officials at the Alamo say they, too, are intrigued.

“We are dedicated to telling the story of the battle of 1836,” Alamo spokesman Jonathan Huhn said in a statement shared with The Dallas Morning News. “The battle was a brutal conflict where hundreds of Texans gave their lives for a single ideal — liberty.

“Mr. Feely’s diorama is a fantastic depiction of the battle. We sincerely hope that once the museum and visitors center is completed, that the Alamo will have the room available to display such large works of historical art.”

Feely’s inspiration

Artistic inspiration is, of course, paramount, so where did Feely’s come from?

“The reason he likes the Alamo is, he grew up watching Davy Crockett,” Chiao says, referring to the television series starring Fess Parker that aired on ABC from 1954 to 1955. “He loved it. And then at some point, he saw a magazine which had on its cover a diorama of the Alamo.”

And where was that diorama shown to the public? At the Hall of State in Fair Park during the 1936 Texas Centennial.

“So, he comes into our building in 2019, and he sees that diorama, and he literally starts crying,” Chiao says. “He says, ‘This is what inspired me to make mine, and yes, this would be a great home for mine.’ The whole thing was amazing.”

Chiao says Feely’s elaborate undertaking became a multi-year process of “constant tinkering. He remade it three times. He had a group of eight to 10 guys that helped him research what the final product became. They’re all members of the Alamo Society. They’re die-hards. Between the eight to 10 of these dudes, I’d say there are at least 70 to 80 years of research among them.

“If they found out there was something that wasn’t correct, Tom changed it immediately, such as the height of a building. Or if the arms of the soldiers were at the wrong angles. It’s that kind of detail. He wanted it to be perfect, and by the end, he felt that it was.”

Chiao says the finished product depicts “about 1,500″ Mexican soldiers descending on the Alamo, with “about 200 people on the Texian side,” including men, women and children. The sprawling piece also shows “horses and cattle and dogs, and yes, even a cat. A cat!”

The minuteness of detail also ended up in the faces.

“He did try to put people’s faces on them, if he knew what they looked like.” And if he didn’t, “he would put the faces of friends of his on the characters. On one of the defenders, he put John Wayne’s face on there.”

Wayne starred in the 1960 Oscar-winning movie The Alamo, in which he played Col. Davy Crockett. Wayne also directed the film.

“Another person has Fess Parker’s face,” Chiao says. “Feely left all these little Easter eggs you can find.”

Chiao expresses amazement over the complexity of detail and the deep artistic commitment Feely made to finish the project, amid a mountain of obstacles.

Those assisting him knew “what kind of cannon was on what kind of carriage. Was it a two-wheel carriage? Was it on barrels? They knew all the details about the uniforms. They even had an inventory list from the Mexican side. They knew how many battalions there were, how many sets of ladders each battalion had. So, there was a lot of research done on this piece — and on its moment in time.”

The ice storm

Against all odds, the diorama escaped the siege of ice and water that ravaged the Hall of State and other parts of Fair Park in February 2021.

So, now, Feely’s piece will become a permanent free exhibit in the South Texas Room, where, Chiao says, it will symbolize an internal triumph — the end to its own battle.

The Hall of State had been fully renovated in late 2020, at a cost of $14.41 million. But then came the record winter storm that killed 246 people and leveled a new round of damage to the 84-year-old building, leading to a second renovation, which cost just over $3 million.

Chiao says there is no better way to honor the historical society — now celebrating its 100th centennial — than for people by the thousands to come to the Hall of State to see with their own eyes Tom Feely’s masterpiece.

“After all,” he says, “the battle of the Alamo is the reason the Alamo is historic. And Tom’s exhibit is nothing less than a breathtaking illustration of it.”