In October 1977, Texas Monthly published an article about Jeff McKissack's creation of the Orange Show in Houston, which he built from salvaged materials starting in 1968. Located on Munger Street, the site honors oranges and features various exhibits including a steamboat display and a room with mannequin scenes. By the time it opened to the public in 1979, McKissack had invested at least $10,000 worth of materials and worked daily on the project. James Harithas, director of the Contemporary Arts Museum, supported the Orange Show as an important piece of folk art, suggesting it could be sold for up to a few hundred thousand dollars or preserved by the city as a monument.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-06,
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Story summary
In 1968, Jeff McKissack built the Orange Show in southeast Houston from salvaged materials, transforming it into a folk art site dedicated to oranges. The complex celebrates oranges as symbols of strength, purity, and the American way. After opening to the public in 1979, it became a global pilgrimage destination for folk art enthusiasts. McKissack, then aged 75, mentioned in an interview with Texas Monthly that he worked on the site daily. Items used included roof tiles from the old Capitol Theatre and buggy wheels collected over decades of his work at the Post Office and travels between Houston and Hot Springs, Arkansas. The Contemporary Arts Museum's director, James Harithas, became a supporter upon visiting in 1975.
Written for “Orange Show Origin” on 2026-10-06,
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In October 1977, William Martin wrote in Texas Monthly that the Orange Show, a folk art site on Munger Street in southeast Houston, was the passion of its creator, Jeff McKissack, then 75.
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Show → write → creator
McKissack told William Martin in a Texas Monthly interview, "I work on it every day."
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I → tell → it
The complex, built from salvaged materials, honours oranges, which McKissack saw as symbols of strength, purity and the American way.
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McKissack → build → strength
McKissack opened the show to the public in 1979, and it is now a pilgrimage destination for folk art lovers worldwide.
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it → open → lovers
This article traces its creation, collection, recognition and preservation.
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article → trace → creation
How did McKissack build the Orange Show
McKissack built the show largely from salvaged and bought items.
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McKissack → build → items
Some came from buildings demolished in downtown Houston during his years at the Post Office.
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Some → come → Office
They included roof tiles from the old Capitol Theatre, a railing from a Stowers Furniture Company fire escape and a miniature obelisk from the Texas State Hotel.
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They → include → Hotel
Other pieces came from antique and junk shops between Houston and Hot Springs, Arkansas, where McKissack had holidayed since 1918.
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McKissack → come → 1918
Cast-iron tractor seats and dozens of buggy wheels were his most successful finds, and they served as seating and as decoration on gates, fences and partitions.
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they → Cast → gates
The exhibits described included a steamboat display, a steam buggy and an exhibit room roughly eight feet wide and twenty feet long.
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exhibits → describe → display
The room held mannequin scenes, a tepee and signs with McKissack's own wording.
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room → hold → wording
McKissack told Martin he had at least $10,000 worth of further exhibits stored in his living room.
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he → tell → room
He also said that he had worked on the project since 1968: "I started working on it in 1968, and I work on it every day."
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I → say → it
PC: Texas Monthly interview
Why did Harithas support the Orange Show
James Harithas, director of the Contemporary Arts Museum, first visited the Orange Show in 1975 and became an enthusiastic supporter.
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Harithas → support → 1975
Harithas said he took visitors to see it, among them the painter Willem de Kooning and the collector Count Panza, and called it the "Orange Shrine".
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he → say → it
His visits were interrupted when the Bicentennial flood destroyed the museum in June 1976.
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flood → interrupt → June
Harithas told Martin he doubted the show would bring McKissack substantial income unless it was sold as a work of art to a collector who would maintain it.
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who → tell → it
He estimated it could fetch a few hundred thousand dollars.
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it → estimate → dollars
If no sale came about, he felt the city should take it over as a monument, and he said he intended to put the museum behind it.
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he → come → it
Neighbourhood boys had broken in shortly before his last visit, pouring paint over the exhibit room and damaging exhibits.
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boys → break → exhibits
McKissack told him he had scolded the boys but had not told their parents.
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he → tell → parents
How large was the Orange Show
According to the Texas Historical Foundation, a grant presentation to the Orange Show Foundation on 27 June 2023.
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presentation → accord → June
By the time he opened the show to the public more than twenty years later, it said, he had assembled salvaged materials into 3,000 square feet of sculptural environment.
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he → open → environment
It states that he opened it in 1979 and that it survived less than a year afterwards.
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it → state → 1979
The grant came from its William Jack Sibley Arts Endowment.
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grant → come → Endowment
It supports ongoing efforts to restore and maintain the site, whose oldest parts are approaching 70 years old.
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parts → support → site
The foundation said the piecemeal nature of the original work makes maintenance complex, requiring fidelity to both aesthetic and structural integrity.
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maintenance → say → integrity
It described the Orange Show as a pilgrimage destination for lovers of folk art around the world.
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It → describe → world
The Aporia
