Other Destinations and Attractions in Kansas

The Wabaunsee County Historical Museum in Alma features farm exhibits, a blacksmith shop, a leather-making display, an early day doctor's office, an 1880 schoolroom, a 1928 REO fire truck, a Beecher Bible and Rifle Church Exhibits, a Railroad Depot and a General Lewis Walt display.

The Pioneer-Krier Museum in Ashland features exhibits that depict the early life of the first settlers as they moved into the county with their families. Within the museum is the Harold Krier Field Aerobatic display.

The Baxter Springs Museum houses displays that include mining, Civil War materials, Native American Indian items, an authentic 1870's log cabin, downtown boardwalk, and a 1910 fully furnished farm house.

The Mitchell County Museum is housed in a four-story Beloit building with room displays that include china, glassware, tools and clothing.

The Coffey County Museum in Burlington features collections of firearms and arrowheads, fossils, a display of dolls and rooms that depict 19th C life.

The Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum in Chanute were early wildlife photographers and authors. Displays include films, photographs, manuscripts, articles, books, and personal belongings.

TheTallgrass Prairie National Preserve features the tallgrass ecosystem which is slowly dwindling. Less than 1 per cent of the tallgrass remains of the original 400,000 square miles that once grew across the North American continent.

The Kaw Mission in Council Grove was built in 1850 as a mission school for children of the Kansa Tribe - the Native Americans for whom Kansas is named.

The Hodgden House Museum Complex consists of the two-block site of Ellsworth's original commercial district including the 1878 Hodgden House, a church, log cabin, general store, 1900 train depot, and turn-of-the C wooden windmill.

The Greenwood County Museum in Eureka has pioneer memorabilia, photographs, local relics and indigenous rocks.

The Shawnee Indian Mission, founded in 1839, was created to teach Native American children academic and craft skills. The buildings were later used as Kansas Territory's capitol.

The 20 buildings of the Fort Scott National Historic Site have been restored to the original 1840's look. The site also features parade grounds and 5 acres of tallgrass prairie.

The Stone House Gallery in Fredonia is housed in the oldest existing home in the town which was built in 1872. The gallery features changing exhibits of contemporary artists.

The Lee Richardson Zoo in Garden City is home to more than 350 animals. The Wild Asia exhibit features Asian plants, architecture and animals. Finnup Park offers a large swimming pool, horseshoe pits, tennis courts and a playground.

The Mennonite Heritage Museum complex in Goessel consists of eight buildings, including the Immigrant House and the Turkey Red Wheat Palace.

The Goodland High Plains Museum features America's first patented helicopter, built in Goodland by Purvis and Wilson in 1910. Other highlights of the museum include a 1902 Holsman rope-driven automobile, pioneer and railroad memorabilia, as well as prehistoric artifacts and fossils.

The Big Well in Greensburg was completed in 1888, used until 1932 and is reputedly the largest hand-dug well in the world. It is 109 feet deep and contains 15 feet of water.

The Space Wanderer is made of iron and stone and is the world's largest pallasite meteorite. It was found on the Ellis Peck farm east of Greensburg. The pallasite was placed in the Greensburg Big Well Museum in 1949 and is still on display.

The Kansas Learning Center for Health in Halstead presents multimedia exhibits and activities that let visitors explore the wonders of the human body.

The Hollenberg Station State Historic Site in Hanover is an unaltered Pony Express relay station still in its original location. The museum contains displays about the history of the Oregon/California Trail and the Pony Express.

The Native American Heritage Museum State Historic Site near Highland is the remaining portion of the Presbyterian mission building erected in 1846. The museum focuses on the Iowas, Kickapoos, Potawatomis, Sacs and Fox tribes with displays of clothing, folk art, food and customs.

The Mennonite Settlement Museum in Hillsboro was built in 1876 by a Mennonite family using adobe bricks and mud, with slough grass for the roof. The home is furnished in period. The grounds feature a replica of an 1876 wind-driven mill, a schoolhouse and the visitor center.

The Milford Nature Center is located near the Milford Reservoir. The center has dioramas featuring an aquatic system with more than 300 life-like fish, turtles, snakes, and insects and a terrestrial system showcasing wildlife from the prairies, marshes, and woods. The warm-water fish hatchery lets visitors walk around the outside tanks.

Fort Harker was abandoned in 1872 and was used to protect the frontier settlers from the hostile American Indians. A horse-drawn ambulance, uniforms and equipment from local residents are on display.

The Edwards County Historical Society Museum is home to a sod house, museum, and chapel. Most of the furniture in the sod house was in use in homes of the early Pioneers.

The Kirwin National Wildlife Refuge covers more than 10,000 acres surrounding the Kirwin Reservoir. The refuge provides habitat for many species of waterfowl.

The stone barn at the Legler Barn Museum was built by Adam Legler in 1864. It was originally located on the Santa Fe Trail. In 1983 it was reconstructed at its current location in Sar-Ko-Par Trails Park and contains pioneer artifacts.

The Dane G Hansen Memorial Museum in Logan houses a gallery featuring a gun and coin collection, an Oriental art exhibit and changing displays from the Smithsonian Institution.

Exhibits at the Coronado-Quivira Museum in Lyons include early inhabitants, Spanish explorers, the Sante Fe Trail, the coming of homesteaders and permanent settlers.

The McPherson Museum is housed in a 1920s house with vintage furniture, American Indian artifacts, pioneer household items, gems and minerals.

Rock City is the site of about 200 sandstone concretions that scientists believe were formed millions of years ago in Dakota Sandstone, which had been deposited when areas of Kansas were covered by an inland sea.

The Stauth's traveled to 95 countries on 6 continents, visitors can experience this journey through displays of handicrafts and art as well as video and slide programs. A collection of North American game animals are displayed with opportunity to learn more about big game hunting and sportsmanship.

Norman No 1 is a replica of the first commercially successful well of the Mid-Continent Field. It was drilled November, 1892. The museum features the history of the area's oil and agriculture industry.

The Kauffman Museum in Newton is the site of a tallgrass prairie reconstruction with more than 15 species of grasses and more than 100 wildflower species; the exhibit of Land and People, which tells the story of the coming of the Mennonites from Europe to the central plains in the 1870s; as well as an historic farmstead with heritage flower and vegetable gardens around the 1875 Voth-Unruh-Fast House and the 1886 Ratzlaff Barn.

The Decatur County Museum is a 13-building complex in Oberlin featuring a one-room schoolhouse, 1885 depot and jail, sod house and tack room. The museum has more than 15,000 antiques and Native American artifacts.

The Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop in Olathe is the last remaining stagecoach stop on the historic Santa Fe Trail still open to the public. Three original buildings have been preserved: The Mahaffie Family Home/Stagecoach Stop, two-story Ice House, and Wood Peg Barn.

The Old Depot Museum in Ottawa is a two story, limestone depot built in 1888 as a depot for the Kansas City, Lawrence, and Southern Kansas Railway.

Exhibits include a model railroad layout; displays tracing the life of famed abolitionist John Brown; a Victorian parlor, a general store, and a military room.

The Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead in Overland Park features 12 acres depicting a turn-of-the-century farm, including a petting zoo, a silo with slides, a 'tot-lot' for the younger children, a farmhouse, and picture-box gardens.

The Old Oxford Mill is a restored 1874 mill that houses artifacts including pulley-driven fans and a generator.

Pawnee Rock Park contains a sandstone mass 80ft/24m high, that was one of the most famous landmarks on the Santa Fe Trail. It is said to have earned its name after the Plains Indians destroyed a group of Pawnees after a major battle.

Fort Bissell in Phillipsburg (pop. 2,700) was never a Federal Military Post, but was built by settlers as their means of protection against the Indians. The original fort was torn down so a replica stands in its place today with a sod house, two 1872 cabins, a one-room schoolhouse and a depot from Glade.

The Crawford County Historical Museum in Pittsburg features vintage clothing, photos, coal mining and farming artifacts, printing exhibits, and horsedrawn vehicles.

Pratt County Historical Museum has several galleries with historical exhibits such as American Indian artifacts, pioneer rooms, period rooms from the 1800s and sculpture woven from wheat.

The Pawnee Indian Village was occupied in the 1820s. The museum building was constructed over the excavated floor of an earth lodge with artifacts visible where they were found.

The Scandia Museum pays tribute to local Swedish, Danish and Norwegian ancestors. Exhibits include carriages and farm primitives; records, newspapers and geneology; military artifacts, doctor equipment, wedding dresses and linens.

The Emmett Kelly Museum in Sedan honors the famous clown Emmett Kelly and his sad-faced character "Willie". Memorabilia of his circus career as well as many items related to local history are on display.

Old Shawnee Town is a complex of original historic structures and replicas of buildings in Shawnee from the late 1800's to early 1900's.

The Quivira National Wildlife Refuge covers more than 20,000 acres and provides habitat for various species of migratory waterfowl including bald eagles and whooping cranes. Picnicking, hiking and fishing are permitted.

Cottonwood Ranch State Historic Site is relatively unchanged from its construction between 1885 and 1896 by John Fenton Pratt. Architectural elements from his English homeland are found throughout the ranch. Visitors can explore the ranch to discover the life of the Pratt family.

St Fidelis Church, the Cathedral of the Plains was erected between 1908 and 1911 in Victoria. It is a Romanesque cathedral constructed mainly of native limestone with stained glass windows imported from Munich, Germany.

On the grounds of the Fort Wallace Museum in Wallace is the original Pond Creek Stage Station, built in 1865 as a "home station" along the Butterfield Overland Dispatch stage lines. An old railroad depot which once served the Union Pacific Railroad, items that belonged to early settlers and garrisoned troops are on display.

The Chisholm Trail Museum in Wellington is a museum of domestic life containing more than 40 rooms full of artifacts and pictures, most collected locally, some dating back to the Civil War and the 1870s cattle trail. The building itself is a reinforced concrete structure built in 1916 as the Hatcher Hospital.

Big Brutus in West Mineral is the second largest electric shovel in the world. It is 16 stories tall and weighs 11 million pounds. Both the visitor center and Big Brutus contain exhibits and photographs.

Winfield (pop. 12,000) was home to the Osage Indians when the first settlers arrived in the 1860s. The town remembers soldiers from all wars in Memorial Park. Winfield hosts a bluegrass festival in September.

The Cowley County Historical Museum in Winfield features historical artifacts including items from doctor's and dentist's offices from the area.

The Gallery at Baden Square presents rotating exhibits of pottery, oil paintings, quilts and sculpture.