Museum expansion to feature full-sized dinosaur cast

IDABEL, Okla. (AP) -- A 5,000-square-foot expansion at the Museum of the Red River will feature a new wing to hold a full-sized dinosaur cast.<br/><br/>A 40-foot-long, 13-foot-tall cast of an Acrocanthosaurus

Monday, May 31st 2004, 5:18 am

By: News On 6

IDABEL, Okla. (AP) -- A 5,000-square-foot expansion at the Museum of the Red River will feature a new wing to hold a full-sized dinosaur cast.

A 40-foot-long, 13-foot-tall cast of an Acrocanthosaurus Atokensis dinosaur will be placed in the museum's new 2,000-square-foot west wing once it is completed.

Groundbreaking for the exterior construction is scheduled for Tuesday, but crews have already begun working on an expansion of the museum's activity room. The task includes knocking down the original west wall of the museum.

The Acrocanthosaurus Atokensis is believed to have lived in McCurtain County 100 million years ago. Remains from the species were first found in southwestern Atoka County in 1940, and the dinosaur received its name -- meaning a high-spined lizard from the Atoka area -- about 10 years later.

A portion of the dinosaur's vertebrae was found about eight miles east of Broken Bow around 1980 because of erosion along the Mountain Fork River. More than half of the dinosaur's bones -- including one of the few complete skulls of a large dinosaur ever found -- were recovered during an excavation conducted between 1983 and 1987 by Cephis Hall and Sid Love.

The fossil remains of the dinosaur are displayed in the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Charlotte, N.C.

The Museum of the Red River will display a cast of the dinosaur. Casts of the dinosaur are also on display in several states and foreign countries.

The museum, built in 1974 with funds from the Herron Foundation, was expanded to 18,000 square feet in 1999. The current expansion also includes 3,000 square feet of space for a new lobby and additional classroom and kitchen space.