Always a good thing! The museum preserves and displays historical memorabilia, photos, and stories…read morefrom Wapello County, Iowa. I appreciate the grand effort made by the society to preserve and share information. My grandparents lived in Wapello County their entire lives and I grew up spending summers at the farm. I would love to see the Military Room receive a renovation with greater emphasis on Wapello County veterans.

From the owner: The Iowa Heartland History Connection is a southeastern Iowa history museum with so much to offer!…read more- museum exhibits that rotate regularly with new things to see - view items from our own collection, from private collections, and other museums - dedicated kids room for learning and exploration - gift shop that features Iowa themed gifts and hand-made goods from local small businesses - rooms for rent for meetings, classes, lectures, presentations, and parties - a research library for National History Day research and genealogy - you can also ask a volunteer here to do research for you (for a fee)

Museum was closed when we were driving through but what was available outside was fun to see and…read moreread about the Doodlebug.

There really is something for everyone, especially people with a fascination for trains - that…read morecovers most of the population. My favorite car has always been the caboose, love the idea of looking out the back where you are and where you've been. The museum has limited hours during the week, join the volunteers for coffee 7:00-9:00am. Merle is available to schedule personal tours. The depot has been beautifully restored and the displays are thorough and very organized. Don't miss the stroll out back to the river - gorgeous view.

It was torrentially down pouring and time to take a stop on our cross country road trip, we got off…read morethe exit to walk around a target since a playground was out and saw signs for The Iowa Children's Museum. So glad we saw the signs this place was amazing it was just what our 2 year olds need to burn off some energy after 2ish hours in the car with many more to go. It was surprisingly large, has so many different rooms with different themes for the kids to explore. We let the kids play for close to 2 hours than grabbed food at the mall food court and went back on our way.

The museum is bigger than I expected it to be, attached to the mall. There are a variety of…read morehands-on activities for children to participate in and explore different interests. Some stuff was clean and well functioning, while other stuff was not. I'm not going to comment on the organization since it was mass chaos when we went. My husband's complaints are that some of the simulators didn't work, it was disorganized, and way too many big kids in the 0-5year old play area that did not have younger siblings and were UNSUPERVISED (specifically a group of preteen girls). My biggest complaint was we went on NYE and expected there to be a limited number of guests. We have visited different children's museums in the USA for the past few years and each one required tickets purchased in advance (and they all became sold out). But not this place. It was uncomfortably crowded and during the time of the ball drop, you couldn't move. We couldn't move even if we wanted to go to another area to play. So during the congregation of guests awaiting the balloon drop, my kids wanted to move around and I tried to hype up the balloon drop instead since we were stuck in place. Once the balloons were released and both children and their parents were savages, I realized my kids wouldn't have a chance of getting a balloon, so we moved on to another exhibit to play and spend some energy. Great! No biggie. Except we went to lunch in the food court shortly after and were disappointed to see families with 3 balloons per kid. My kids didn't cry, or make a scene or anything like that. They just didn't understand why they didn't get one. While we have no intention of going back to Iowa anytime soon, I hope they consider changing their policy to limit the number of guests inside the museum at one time, and consider encouraging families to take one balloon per child. We went to another NYE in the evening that had balloons and they helped entertain my children for the 7 hour drive home the next day.

For the fans of art, history, architecture, or roadside attractions, this is a spot to stop for!…read moreThere's a museum ($5/person) that's full of information about the artist and the painting. The museum details the artwork and life of Grant Wood. There's learning activities for kids throughout, an opportunity to put costumes over your clothes as a photo opportunity in front of the house, and a neat little gift shop. I don't know if it's a place you visit more than once, but I'm so glad to have been! The $5 was worth it in my opinion and visiting in the spring was great as the have an extensive native plant garden that was in full bloom when we were there.

I have driven by the signs for the house many times on 34/163 but never taken the time to…read moreinvestigate until now. It was a really cool stop with lots to look at and a bargain price of $5/person. Didn't have time to do all of it, but I'm sure I'll go back when I have more time. Thoroughly enjoyed the information about the artist in the time I had, and I loved that many of the exhibits were interactive and very child friendly in nature. Recommend for a family outing, a lover of art history, or just a quick weekend of fun!

Great way to spend a bit of time walking around the historic village. There are 20 buildings all…read moreconnected with an outdoor courtyard. Wyatt Erp house, mill, carving shop, bakery, museum, and forge. For just a bit of money it's a great way to spend an hour or so. Then you get to take a guided tour through the windmill and miniature Dutch village. It was amazing to go up inside the windmill and see the process of how they grind the flour. You can purchase bags of the stone ground flour in the mill's gift shop or you can go to Jarsema bakery and get mill ground wheat rolls. It's a great tour and really interesting!! I will be back during the tulip festival to see the shops working!!!

My family and I absolutely loved our experience here. It starts with a guided tour of the windmill…read more During the tour you learn about the Netherlands, see a wonderful miniature village setup, and then go into the mill and see the windmill in action. Our two daughters (5 and 7) got a little bit bored when the guide was talking about the mill but they absolutely lived the miniature village (it really is magnificent). After the guided part of the tower you can go through the little village of out buildings at your own pace. We loved this! We spent several hours here and thought it was well worth the money ($10 for adults and $2 for kids).

What a treasure. Great info about the amanas. Love to see the history. I really appreciate the…read moreinfo and antiques

We dropped in to expand our knowledge on the Amana Colonies. The first area is a room with cook…read morebooks and small displays. To go beyond , you agree to the 20 minute Video and a museum visit. The hitch is 8.00 per person to go deeper. I just couldn't see the value for 16.00. He was very nice and explained the process to the next people arriving after us. But we decided to hold on to our cash. I would have done it for half. I was already inside. I learned more in the woolen store later from the sales ladies. They loved to tell the history.

Great trip for a day with kids. Our group had four boys ranging from 2 to 7, and they all enjoyed…read moreit. There were about 5 different areas to play in focused on different themes: nature, physics, space, etc. There was a planetarium with regular shows. Nice for a sweltering hot day.

Nice, family friendly museum located in downtown Des Moines, but there are way too many screaming…read morekids running around. Why do people bring children under 8 to these types of places? It's not like they will even know or comprehend any of these things, much less be able to sit still during demonstrations or when viewing exhibits. It was nice to see that all science demonstrations and shows in the planetarium are included in your ticket price. If you check out a few of those, then it is well worth the admission even as an adult!

What a treasure for Indianola. Such a treasure of information about ballooning. If you can make it…read moreto the area, it's worth seeing.

I know NOTHING of ballooning barring that one trip I took up 20 years ago for my mothers fortieth…read more Girlfriend and I passed this on a road trip, shimmied up to the counter, and paid the $3 each. The volunteer docent had a wealth of knowledge on the.... hobby? Activity? Sport? Either way, he answered any and all questions before we took off throughout the museum. There were plenty of baskets, balloons, different types of capsule (even a styofoam one,) material samples, medals, trophies, etc. It could have been overwhelming, but everything was properly labeled, and easily explained to the clueless. There was a library in the back chock full of books and dvds. A small area for children's activities and a cute little gift shop await you at the end of loop, as well as clean bathrooms and more non-pushy, friendly staff. Look, I went in here knowing nothing and left with a nice overview and new respect for the science and work that goes in to this activity, which is what any small specialty museum should do. It's most definitely worth the entry fee, enter with an open mind, leave an hour later with a new appreciation.

A wonderful day at the museum. The sloth is definitely our favorite. This museum is wonderfully…read morekept up and we always enjoy our visits.

Love, love, love this museum. Nestled right on the Pentacrest of The University of Iowa campus, we…read morereally do have an amazing resource in our own backyard (for those of us who live in the Eastern Iowa corridor area, at least). The museum hasn't changed much since I last visited 10+ years ago, but that's okay. Rusty the Sloth and the polar bear in the gift shop are staples. Macbride Hall houses the Department of Anthropology at U of I. Wouldn't it be cool to see these artifacts every day as a student? The pair of lions in Mammal Hall were placed in an enclosed case in 202 (previously not enclosed) and a nice mural was painted behind them. From what I could tell, that's the most recent update to one of the museum's exhibits. Museum is free, but a donation is suggested. Please don't skip the donation box located near the guestbook in the gift shop. As indicated in a previous review, some of the exhibits have become quite 'well-loved.' Interactive features no longer work, particularly in the Hall of Birds. Mammal Hall is my most favorite, but there's so much to learn from each area of the museum. The museum covers 3 floors of Macbride Hall. Take the stairs and work those quads! Elevator available as well. Due to the summer season museum hours are a little different, so I'd call ahead or check the website for details. Parking during the summer on the street is easy to find. $1.50/hour. Highly recommend!