Despite what some people think, Kansas is not flat terrain. In fact, its topography varies between vast open prairie, the Flint Hills, and protruding geography like the Gypsum Hills. Add the unpredictability of its ever-changing weather, making it a challenging location for early settlers.
Native Americans created trading posts. Settlers arrived from distant countries and other parts of the country, hoping to access farmland. Cowboys drive cattle from Texas along the Chisholm Trail.
Fortunately, these museums document the story of those who chose Kansas as their home. Museum-goers can time travel back in history, imagining what life must have been like for its early residents, visiting one museum at a time.
OAKLEY
Buffalo Bill Cultural Center
The story of the American West includes William F. Cody, Buffalo Bill, who worked as a contract buffalo hunter. The Buffalo Bill Cultural Center’s interpretive displays and the outdoor sculpture of Buffalo Bill tell the story of northwestern Kansas town’s early days.
A worthwhile point of interest in Oakley, a 16-foot bronze sculpture of Buffalo Bill draws tourists eager to take photos. The 8 Wonder of Kansas Art landmark is twice the life size of Buffalo Bill and his horse.
GOODLAND
High Plains Museum
Documented stories dating back over 100 years come to life at the High Plains Museum, where curators display over 8,000 Western Kansas artifacts, including a replica of the first patented helicopter in America inspired by the Wright brothers. A glass case housing a gun, money box, and masks used by train robbers illustrates the train robbery story. A gallery of images depicts farming and railroad history in Sherman County.
High-quality traveling exhibits and regularly scheduled trivia nights add to the museum’s appeal in Goodland.
COLBY
Prairie Museum of Art and History
Walk in the shoes of the state’s early residents inside original buildings on a 24-acre site at Prairie Museum of Art and History in Colby. A one-room schoolhouse and a 1915 church serve as time capsules, while tractors on display are a visual reminder of the labor-intensive daily work of farmers who tended fields and raised livestock.
The Cooper Barn, the largest one in Kansas, is one of the 8 Wonders of Kansas Architecture and a must-see attraction. Inside, Agriculture on the High Plains: High Dry’s artifacts tell a farming story during water scarcity, underscoring the challenges of prairie living.
OBERLIN
Decatur County Last Indian Raid Museum
In 1878, a battle between the Cheyenne Indian tribe and US Army men took place in Decatur County, resulting in deaths. The Last Indian Raid Museum’s displays preserve this history, as do buffalo hunters and homesteaders.
Fifteen structures, including 13 authentic buildings, tell a visual story of Decatur County from 1885 to 1952. Use a self-guided tour map and scan QR codes with your phone’s camera to access historical information at each display.
DODGE CITY
Boot Hill Museum
Located in Dodge City, the Queen of the Cowtowns, Boot Hill Museum preserves life on the prairie history by documenting the Old West. A self-guided tour of original and replica buildings immerses visitors in 1800s life. The museum includes over 60,000 artifacts and photographs about the Plains Indians, the cattle industry, Victorian life, and the Kansas Cowboy Hall of Fame exhibit.
While watching saloon girls perform at the Long Brand Variety Show in the saloon while sipping sarsaparilla, one is immersed in saloon life. It’s here that bootleggers profited, and cowboys gambled until dawn. And when things got too rowdy, gunfights broke out beyond the saloon doors in the street where cowboys often died with their boots on, hence the name Boot Hill.
LARNED
Santa Fe Trail Center
Part museum, part library, the Santa Fe Trail Center brings the past to life, showcasing how the High Plains changed after the railroad developed. The not-to-be-missed destination includes indoor and outdoor exhibits.
Gallery exhibits detail how a trapper’s life and a 1919 replica home depicts family. History lovers can view the Frizell Depot or send a telegraph message outside. Don’t miss the schoolhouse and chapel, each over 100 years old.
NICODEMUS
Nicodemus Historical Museum
Established in 1877, Nicodemus, Kansas, was founded by once enslaved African Americans who migrated to Kansas in search of land. The Nicodemus Historical Museum, a national park site, tells the story of their faith and tenacity in using the prairie to make a living.
Take a tour of five buildings located at the oldest and only remaining Black settlements west of the Mississippi River. In October, Pioneer Day features speakers highlighting the town’s founding residents.
MANHATTAN
Flint Hills Discovery Center
Manhattan, situated on the Konza Prairie, is the home of the Flint Hills Discovery Center. An ideal place to learn about the region’s topography, seven indoor interactive exhibits explore Kansas weather and its effect on the ecosystem.
The museum’s Horizon Ranch Flint Hills Immersive Experience Theatre shows a 15-minute film immersing viewers in blowing wind, falling snow, and a light show mimicking a real prairie fire. Other exhibits drive home what it’s like to work as a cattle rancher, from raising livestock to selling it – don’t leave without practicing your auctioning skills.
LA CROSSE
Kansas Barbed Wire Museum
Traditional Twist. One Round-One Square. Razor Ribbon. The names given to various barbed wire designs are as fascinating as its uses.
The Kansas Barbed Wire Museum educates about the history of barbed wire fencing. Used by landowners to keep free-roaming cattle from damaging crops, the twisted metal was also used by railroad companies to keep cattle from straying on the tracks.
LYONS
Coronado Quivira Museum
The year was 1541, and Francisco Vasquez de Coronado was on a mission to find gold. The Spanish explorer and his men traveled through Kansas on this quest. Although unsuccessful, Coronado left an impression (and a few artifacts behind!).
The Coronado Quivira Museum also documents Quivira, an ancestral province of the Wichita tribe located near Lyons, that Coronado discovered during his visit.
TOPEKA
Kansas Museum of History
The Kansas Museum of History offers visitors perhaps the most robust story of the early days of Kansas, chronicling the life of Native Americans, the impact of the Civil War, and the effects of the Bleeding Kansas sage.
Glass cases house Native American artifacts serving as symbols of tribal life. Peering into a covered wagon helps visitors envision traveling as a family on the desolate plains westward with hope in their hearts. Everything changed with the development of Kansas railroads, and a tour inside a locomotive reminds visitors of its expansion from east to west in the 1860s. The Topeka museum will reopen after renovations on Kansas Day 2025.
ABILENE
Old Abilene Town
Abilene, a stop on the Chisholm Trail, is an original Wild West location. Old Abilene Town is a living history museum depicting what people experienced during the town’s cattle-driving days.
Visitors can watch can-can dancers hoot and holler or gunfighters duke it out in the street in the summer. What must it have been like for drovers to move Texas livestock through town? A live longhorn cattle walk through downtown Abilene during Chisholm Trail Days during Labor Day Weekend to recreate history. A visit to Old Abilene Town on any given day of the year is worthwhile, serving as a backdrop for photos.
SHAWNEE
Shawnee Town Museum
Another living history museum, Shawnee Town Museum, familiarizes visitors with a typical day in the 1929 farm community. Many buildings are replicas; however, a walk through an original 1878 farmhouse resembles how a family would have lived. Greet chicken outside in the coop or smell the aroma of the smokehouse before touring the Market Shed, where homemakers sold goods.
Old Shawnee Days, an annual fair in early June, draws a large crowd for its nostalgic parade, vendors, and amusement park rides.
BONNER SPRINGS
National Agriculture Center and Hall of Fame
Curious about how farmers work the land? The National Agriculture Center and Hall of Fame in Bonner Springs displays 20,000 square feet of antique farm machinery, while the Art Gallery showcases depictions of farm life. Tour the Agricultural Hall of Fame and Farm Town USA to understand how farm families persevered fully.
Don’t miss the Barnyard Babies Family Festival in late April, which allows kids to see animals and farm equipment and ride a train or pony. Interested in machinery? At the Tractor Cruise in May, dozens of tractors drive a 40-mile loop through the county.
REPUBLIC COUNTY
Pawnee Indian Museum State Historic Site
One of the 8 Wonders of Kansas finalists, the Pawnee Indian Museum State Historic Site offers visitors an opportunity to learn about the tribe’s settlements and early 1800s lifestyle. The Republic County museum is constructed around a preserved original dome-shaped earth lodge. Walking its interior, one can see areas dug to store dry goods, a fire pit, and charred wood pieces.
The museum experience is self-guided unless visitors attend special events, which include Mountain Man Rendezvous and Kansas Day activities. During the fall season, after-dark tours occur.
MARYSVILLE
Pony Express Barn & Museum
What was it like to live during a time when a horseman delivered letters to alert town officials of essential events in the 1860s? Part museum, part stable, a visitor’s tour starts by viewing a 15-minute film about the Old West tradition before perusing exhibits ranging from illuminated dioramas to livery stable artifacts. Children will appreciate hands-on activities, from touching animal pelts to donning cowboy garb for a photograph.
The Pony Express Barn & Museum in Marysville is the only remaining original station on the route located between Missouri and California.
OLATHE
Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop & Farm Historic Site
The true grit of the 1860s frontier comes alive at the only working stagecoach stop left on the Santa Fe Trail. A portal back in time, the Living History Museum and Agricultural Heritage Livestock Barn set the scene at the Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop & Farm Historic Site.
Stand in awe as horses plow a field or watch as a cookstove meal. The clip-clop sound of horses’ hoofs signals stagecoach rides are underway – a must-have experience in Olathe.
WELLINGTON
Chisholm Trail Museum
At the Chisholm Trail Museum in Wellington, over 20,000 artifacts displayed in thematic rooms document the story of cattlemen and some of the area’s first pioneer families. The town was a central stop on the Chisholm Trail between Texas and Abilene, Kansas, in 1867.
Admire the embroidered leather work of an authentic saddle, view original photography, or read the names of barbed wire before touring a room dedicated to 1875 pioneer living. Outside, a replica of Texas Longhorn is a photo-worthy sight.
WICHITA
Great Plains Nature Center
At the Great Plains Nature Center, visitors of all ages learn about the animals and fauna that call Kansas home. Animal exhibits and interactive displays document the evolution of prairies, wetlands, and woodland. Events, often including children’s activities, regularly occur at the center in Wichita.
Ready for a stroll outdoors? Surrounded by Chisholm Creek Park, visitors can listen to chirping birds while touring preserved native grassland where free-roaming deer and turkey make their home.
Mid-America All-Indian Center
Several Indigenous tribes resided near the Arkansas River in Wichita before it became an incorporated city. The Mid-America All-Indian Center, which preserves American Indian heritage while honoring its present, is often the site of rotating art exhibits, dinners, and powwow events.
Its permanent display of Blackbear Bosin’s artwork is an homage to his iconic Keeper of the Plains sculpture on the plaza. Fiery cauldrons ignite at its base at 9:00 pm (spring and summer) and 7:00 pm (fall and winter).
Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum
Entering the doors at the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum, one is stepping inside Wichita’s first city hall, built in 1890. Four floors of exhibits help visitors imagine what it was like when Indians settled in Wichita and how businessmen made it into a boom town.
Touch a bison hide while learning about hunters and traders who visited the one-time cattle town. Inside “A Wichita Cottage,” a replica middle-class room depicts the wealthy’s way of life. Around the corner, the Mayor’s Office is set up to resemble where businessman turned mayor John B. Carey made important decisions.
Old Cowtown Museum
Watch 1800s-era life in real-time at Old Cowtown Museum, a living history museum where interpreters dress in period costumes to portray Kansas life. During the regular season (April-October), cowboys kick up dust on Main Street, saloon girls dance on stage, and shopkeepers demonstrate their craft.
Visitors can take self-guided tours of 54 buildings, many of which are original structures. The Munger House, considered the first Wichita home, gives new meaning to Home on the Range. The creaky wood floor, low ceilings, and smell of the Kansas prairie envelope visitors.
SCOTT CITY
El Quartelejo Museum
The studio’s local Native American and pioneer history continues at the El Quartelejo Museum, where the story of those who settled in western Kansas is told. The El Cuartelejo Ruins, built by the Pueblo Indians in Scott County, are well documented.
Take in exhibits dedicated to the Santa Fe Trail and the cattle industry to learn about how later residents used land as a resource. Photography displays drive home the impact of weather events on local farmers.
COFFEYVILLE
Dalton Defenders Museum
“Give me all the money!” The Dalton Gang consisted of three brothers/cowboys who robbed banks. But they were no match for Coffeyville’s residents who fought back. The Dalton Defenders Museum‘s theater room and exhibits document the story and serve as a tribute to the citizens who died defending the town.
Visitors are encouraged to look inside glass cases housing the gang’s guns, saddles, and swatches of their clothing. Outdoors, a walk down Dalton Death Alley helps one imagine where the outlaws tied their horses before the bank raid.
I loved walking around downtown Hays and imagining it as a lawless town. Many of the original buildings have been restored. The photo below shows the historic George Philip Hardware building, established in 1894, at 719 Main Street.
The 100-room hotel features a restaurant and bar, indoor pool, fitness room, and free parking. I was shocked at the size of my room. It was larger than some of my college apartments.
Hilton Garden Inn is one of those hotels where you look back at the sign as you leave and think, “I want to stay here again.” It’s modern, spacious, clean, and has many awesome amenities. A pet-friendly hotel, I feel good knowing that the next time I visit, I can bring my four-legged family member with me during my return trip to Hays.
The 
The museum’s paleontology area allows visitors to get an up-close view of animatronic dinosaurs, prehistoric animals, sea swimming creatures, and fish that lived in Kansas over 80 million years ago. It was a different world when the seas flooded North America. The museum’s exhibits give visitors a glimpse into the past.
A major draw of the museum is its collection of fossils found in the Great Plains, which largely exists because of the work of Charles H. Sternberg. He collected fossils in Kansas starting in 1867.
Because of their lab testing and research, rural farmers know how to improve their methods resulting in a better harvest or herd. From cattle nutrition to land management and plant pathology to entomology, the folks at the center work year-round to learn from nature. In fact, it was at the KSU Agricultural Research Center that many of the biggest contributions to the science of farming took place. Using ultrasound information at the center helped scientists learn more about beef marbling, which led to the USDA’s grading system for quality.
I chose a seat at the bar so I could have a clear view of the brewers at work behind the glass wall. My bartender was friendly and happy to provide a few beer samples until I eventually decided on a pint of the unfiltered Grapefruit Radler. Undecided between two lunch options, she persuaded me to order a local’s favorite, a Smothered Bierock covered in creamy cheese sauce with homemade chips. She also ensured my meal came with creamy bacon horseradish and sweet onion dip to eat with the chips. Lunch never tasted so good! And the beer? It was crisp and aromatic. I’d order it again. Maybe a growler of it.
Knowing that I didn’t have room left for dessert, I ordered the French Toast Brulèe anyway. The crisp exterior gave way to a pillowy center as my spoon cracked into it. Combined with vanilla bean ice cream and fresh whipped cream, it was beyond delicious.
I recommend stopping at Gella’s for lunch or dinner whenever you’re in Hays. The restaurant is large enough that it can easily accommodate groups. Menu prices were reasonable for the quality and portion sizes. If you drink craft beer, you can expect 12 taps, with two rotating regularly.
