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The Museum of the Desert Southwest is a museum of local and West Texas regional history located in a brick structure at 409 S. Gaston Street, off U.S. Route 385 in Crane in Crane County, Texas. It was established in 1980.
The museum is near the Pecos River and its famous fording spot, Horsehead Crossing, the subject of a 1996 Patrick Dearen history, Crossing Rio Pecos, one of the Chisholm Trail series of western books. Several artifacts from the crossing are on display. There are a kitchen and a women's fashion room. Other exhibits recall pioneer ranch life, such as an 1890 Studebaker chuckwagon and a 48-piece spur and bit collection. There is a whiskey still from the era of prohibition and a hospital device that checked shoes for static electricity in the days when explosive ether and chloroform were used as anesthesia. There are exhibits from the petroleum industry and fossils from nearby Castle Gap.
Exhibits also pay tribute to two western authors with roots in Crane County: Paul Patterson and his student and understudy Elmer Kelton.
The museum is open year-round from to 1 to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday; from May to September, it is also available from 9 a.m. to noon Monday through Saturday and Saturday afternoon from 1 to 5 p.m. and Sunday afternoon from 1 to 4 p.m. There is no admission charge.