Dinosaur Capital of Texas (Glen Rose nickname)
Dinosaurs long ago left tracks in what would become the town of Glen Rose, Texas. A Dinosaur Valley State Park is located in Glen Rose, and in 1997 the Texas legislature officially made the city “Dinosaur Capital of Texas.”
Glen Rose Convention & Visitors Bureau
The Convention and Visitors Bureau of Glen Rose, Texas would like to welcome you to our web site. We hope that you will consider the Glen Rose area as your next vacation destination, convention site, corporate retreat, or just a weekend get-away from the city. Explore this site. It provides the information you need to plan your stay. From where to stay, to what to do, from when to visit, to who to contact.
Glen Rose has plenty of attractions to choose from; Dinosaur Valley, golf, art, shopping or wildlife.
Accommodations range from modern Hotels to quaint Country Cottages. Rustic Cabins or cozy Bed & Breakfasts.
Humans are the latecomers to this part of Texas. Tracks pressed into the area’s limestone riverbeds reveal that dinosaurs roamed here more than 100 million years ago.
The surrounding river highlands make for plenty of outdoor recreation opportunities.
Established as a trading post in 1849, Glen Rose is located at a picturesque spot on the Paluxy River, where it merges with the mighty Brazos River.
TPWD: Dinosaur Valley State Park
Dinosaur Valley State Park
P O Box 396
Glen Rose TX 76043
254/897-4588
History: Dinosaur Valley State Park, located just northwest of Glen Rose in Somervell County, is a 1524.72-acre, scenic park set astride the Paluxy River. The land for the park was acquired from private owners under the State Parks Bonds Program during 1968 and opened to the public in 1972.
Eastward-dipping limestones, sandstones, and mudstones, deposited from approximately 113 million years ago along the shorelines of an ancient sea, form the geological setting for the park area. Over the last million years or so, these layered formations have been dissected and sculpted by the Paluxy River which, in many places, has cut down to resistant beds and planed off sizable exposures of rock in the river bottom.
Activities: Dinosaur Valley State Park contains some of the best preserved dinosaur tracks in the world. The dinosaur tracks are located in the riverbed, so please call ahead to check on river conditions. There are two fiberglass models; a 70-foot Apatosaurus and a 45-foot Tyrannosaurus Rex. They were built, under commission of the Sinclair Oil Company, New York World’s Fair Dinosaur Exhibit of 1964 - 1965. Other activities include camping, picnicking, hiking, mountain biking, Equestrian use in a separate 100-acre area (no horses furnished), river swimming and fishing, and wildlife observation.
Official Capital Designations - Texas State Library
Dinosaur Capital of Texas
Glen Rose
House Resolution No. 1299, 75th Legislature, Regular Session (1997)
Texas Legislature
S.C.R. No. 57
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Texas has become world famous for its many dinosaur discoveries and for many of its unique dinosaur specimens such as the Pleurocoelus; and
WHEREAS, When the sea submerged the Antlers and the Paluxy formations, it put an end to dinosaurs in this region of the earth known as Texas for nearly five million years, approximately 105 to 100 million years ago; and
WHEREAS, There was an interruption in North America’s geographic history caused by the expansion of the sea 100 million years ago, creating the Western Interior Sea Way which joined the Gulf of Mexico with the Arctic Ocean, thereby essentially splitting North America into two halves and remaining that way until very near the end of the Age of Dinosaurs, about 66 million years ago; and
WHEREAS, Several formations were laid down in Central Texas during that interval of marine time, fossilizing the remains of the 65 to 70 foot creature known as Pleurocoelus; and
WHEREAS, Today the footprints of Pleurocoelus created so long ago are visible once more, as featured in the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History’s exhibition, Lone Star Dinosaurs; and
WHEREAS, Sauropods, specifically the species Pleurocoelus, inhabited the earth approximately 65 to 200 million years ago, then died out, leaving the footprints and bones in rock as young as 105 million years old, preserving this creature’s prevalence in and across the State of Texas, causing the trackway left in Glen Rose, and making this site world famous; and
WHEREAS, All Pleurocoelus disappeared from North America for 35 to 40 million years, then reappeared, returning to what is referred to as the second dinosaur world in the heart of Texas; and
WHEREAS, Brachiosaur tracks are clearly the footprints of the species Pleurocoelus; they are responsible for not only the tracks in the Glen Rose region but those scattered across Texas; and
WHEREAS, Because the Pleurocoelus tracks and bone are found mainly in Texas and a small portion of Southeastern New Mexico, this species and its remains are the last major grouping of the Pleurocoelus, are indigenous to Texas, and are world famous; and
WHEREAS, The important locality referred to as the Jones site excavation of the Pleurocoelus is the biggest dinosaur project undertaken in the State of Texas led by the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History; and
WHEREAS, These discoveries combined with the leadership of the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History in the field of dinosaur research make the Pleurocoelus an ideal candidate to be the Lone Star State Dinosaur; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 75th Legislature of the State of Texas hereby name the Brachiosaur Sauropod, Pleurocoelus, the official Lone Star State Dinosaur.
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1
Amend SCR 57 as follows:
(1) On page 2, after line 24, insert the following:
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the 75th Legislature of the State of Texas hereby designates Glen Rose as the Dinosaur Capital of Texas in recognition of its historic tradition and legacy.