We LOVE little museums like this! Lots of great mineral displays. Really nice. Upstairs are some…read moremodels of mining history - what my daughter and I were completely enthralled with were vintage panoramic group photos of the miners. Literally could have spent hours here, though for the record we are super nerds. Then, there's another wing of the museum that is all about Joplin history. But as a bonus this also includes the National Cookie Cutter Museum! Who knew? Loved it here. Staff was super friendly and helpful. I think admission was $5, a great bargain!

What a fun little pit stop we made here! This museum isn't just about Minerals and Rocks. We did…read moreenjoy that part and even learned several new things. However it also has a cookie cutter museum inside which is adorable! Bonus you get to take a cookie cutter home for free! So many fun things to look at and it's only $5. You could stay for hours! Highly recommend!

Very interesting national park site! I didn't know that much about George Washington Carver going…read morein and feel like I learned a lot, well done. Great layout and easy to hit all the exhibits. There's a lovely 3/4 trail as well but due to the weather we weren't able to complete that. The ranger was super nice!! Lots of interactive activities for kids, too. It's free to get in, with a small gift shop, Well worth a stop if you're in the area.

Amazing testament to the works of the "Peanut Man" and "Plant Doctor."…read more From a humble beginning as a slave, Carver overcame many difficulties to teach by example and to all. Congress honored his achievement with the establishment of a national monument in 1943. You can see a 28 minute video on the 15min of every hour reviewing the life and the accomplishments of this real life hero. There's a beautiful 1-mile hiking trail around the grounds of the monument with stops marking the life of Dr. Carvers youth Ranger Sarah swore the kiddos in for their Junior Ranger badges. Legacy for learning and living.

Had fun! Free guided and self guided tours. The grounds are beautiful. I really enjoyed my time.read more

It is a beautiful 1800 house for sharing the History in the USA. Mr. Peel was a prominent Attorney…read morewho fight Ed for Natives Indians. The collection is not totally original, however, everything is from the same time of the period. The new owner got some objects from directly of the family had in the house. It is free!!!! Should you go!

Worth stopping in, not a whole lot on display. A few old swords, some bullets, a couple rifles and…read morea uniform that's about it. They tell quite a bit about the battle that broke out there, and the guy we talked to working the front is very knowledgeable. It's not a very big place; you might be able to spend 30 minutes in there if you read everything and watched the movie... But it's free, and a free history lesson is always worth a look "IMO."

Excellent history lesson. I loved the visuals and the historian dude at the front desk was great…read more Picked up some souvenirs and learned a lot. Great job.

I was fortunate to view President Truman's casket as he lied in repose at The Truman Library in…read moreIndependence as a child. I finally was able to be in Lamar during operating hours of his birthplace to see where it all began. The house is a small 2 story with 6 rooms and a steep staircase. The furnishings are not authentic to the Truman family, but they do a good job of representing the era of the 1880's. The welcome center across the street offers a few artifacts and knickknacks for sale. For the true Truman tour of Lamar, go downtown and see the plaque that commemorates the location of where he made his acceptance speech for VP in 1944 and visit the grave of an older stillborn sibling in the cemetery near I-49 on your way out of town. A must stop for all presidential history buffs.

Truman's Birthplace is great for a history lesson. I went there by myself and got a tour, then a…read morecouple of years later my wife and I took our children and nieces. We had a different tour guide and he talked about different things about Truman.

Wow! If you are a person who loves Precious Moments…read morefigurines, you will be filled with amazement when you see this. Also, if you are a person who has always felt a little creeped out by Precious Moments figurines, you probably will also be filled with amazement. Highly recommended this site for anyone who has feelings of any kind about Precious Moments. A little hard to find. Free (donations accepted). There is a gift shop - it was closed for inventory when we went, so that saved us money, I'm sure. The young ladies who were in the chapel to welcome us were so, so nice. It is really something special...something precious, in fact.

This was a major bucket list item of me and I finally got here! I am not a religious person but…read morethis was beautiful and moving. My mom, who passed away in 2018, was a Precious Moments collector so it was really interesting to learn about them. I will say the one disappointing thing was that the museum was closed. I knew this going in however; as I believe it was stated on their website. The staff is nice and extremely knowledgeable. They were all so helpful. This place is completely free which is always nice. I would definitely come back and would recommend.

If you happen to be in the area, this is a great stop to see a pocket of the past…read more The museum is donation only, and their funding is based on the number of annual visitors - so stop in! There are a number of intriguing items, foremost is the two headed calf. There's also a room full of old cars, wagons, typewriters, and a jail cell from an old jail. They also have fashions and mailboxes from the past. It's a time capsule of sorts. The descriptions are thorough so if you're a history buff you could likely spend a couple hours wandering though the rooms. It also has a schoolhouse and old-time store outside, but those parts aren't air conditioned so they might not be as welcome of a respite in the Kansas summers. We had a couple of toddlers with us so the full museum was approximately 45 minutes. They enjoyed it, but were sad they couldn't climb in all the vehicles.

This museum is well worth a stop when you are in the Pittsburg, KS area. For those interested in…read moreAmerican and/or Kansas history, I think it would be a nice stop on a longer trip when visiting (relatively nearby) Fort Scott, too. The museum was closed for a couple of years but has reopened as of my 2017 writing. It seems clean and relatively up to date considering this period of closure. The volunteers were very nice and forthcoming with a lot of extra information, which we appreciated. The two outdoor buildings (schoolhouse and general store) were especially of interest, as were the vehicles and fire truck in the cavernous back room of the museum. There were a few surprising and/or especially interesting items here that I've not seen in other museums. While the labels are not particularly fancy, they convey pertinent info.

Absolutely no pets. Have two small yorkies and a stroller. Got there and was only car in lot but…read moretwo which i assume work there. Was shocked to see no pets sign. My dogs are better behaved than most kids or adults. Oh well, their loss. Btw, been to many of these local type museums and this is first time we were not welcome

I am in agreement with other reviewers. Rich history, so much variety and lots of fun facts. Great…read moreway to learn about the local area and inhabitants, and also connect with other parts of the country with shared history . Young, old, and in-between can find displays to enjoy. Staff were friendly, helpful, and welcoming.

Wandering across western Kansas, I happened upon this incredible piece of machinery. Operated from…read more1963-1974, this is still the largest electric shovel in the world with a 90 cubic yard bucket. Pictures don't do the size of this any justice. They even let you climb inside, wander through, and sit in the operator's chair. There is a nice little museum with lots of great information. I had no idea there was (and still is) a very large coal field running under the middle of the country. A great piece of history, well preserved and worth a detour if you are in the area.

I knew this thing was going to be big but it wasn't until I spotted it soaring over the treeline…read morethat I understood. Oh, and it's a little below grade. Big brutus is a Bucyrus-Erie model 1850B electric shovel. Yes, electric. Massive powerlines would be fed into this monster so that it could clear "overburden" and make it possible for other, smaller devices to mine the coal. At 160 feet high and weighing 11 million pounds, the draw makes 15,000 horsepower and could lift 150 tons of coal. It is therefore the largest existing electric shovel on the planet. Open for climbing (the boom is since closed because of insurance limitations), you can go inside the operator's cabin, walk around the interior body and take selfies in the massive shovel or next to one of the huge crawler tracks. Look out over the lake in front of it - Big Brutus cleared all of that in its heyday before it finally shut down due to environmental concerns. The attached museum has other mementoes telling the story of local mining and there is a movie that shows the machine in action. [Review 19773 overall - 40 in Kansas - 745 of 2023.]