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    Kenosha Public Museum

    4.3 (34 reviews)
    Closed 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

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    So much fun in this super-clean, baby friendly, exploratory area. Great rest spot for parents.
    Laura W.

    Loads of easy-to-access, free parking! Charming exhibits beautifully presented to appeal to children and adults of all ages. Space to explore and discover the area history and wildlife that even the tiniest toddlers can enjoy. Lovely, charming gift shop with gifts for all ages. Kind, personable staff who are friendly, helpful, patient and inspiring. Can't wait to come back and bring visiting relatives and friends!!

    Corina M.

    First of all, I just want to say that I was so relieved this place was open on a Monday! As someone who works weekends it's often hard to find museums that are open then. As for the museum itself, it combined natural history, science, history, and art wonderfully. I learned a lot about the area but history at large as well. Also, I am IN LOVE with their Cabinet of Curiosities exhibit. Well done, overall. Glad we made the stop.

    PJ S.

    Free parking, free admission, a gorgeous art exhibit of river paintings as well as Japanese prints, and a cool curiosities and science exhibit. Space could be used a little better to have a few more hands-on items, but overall a good way to spend 30 minutes.

    Exterior

    Kids will love this museum! And it's FREE! If you are in the area and you have kids, make the time for a visit. It is not huge, but surprisingly spacious inside. The exhibits are not on fantastic, like some of the major museums, but that does not mean you and the kids are not going to have some fun. I am not into taxidermy or stuffed animals, but their collection is fascinating. Their Native American display is interesting as well, even though most of the figures facial features look rather depressed. Give it a try!

    Emon D.

    There is a reason why this is one of the must see places in Kenosha! This museum is much smaller if you're comparing it to the ones in Milwaukee and Chicago, but with its prime lakefront location, huge free parking lot, and no entry or exhibition change ($5 recommended for donation), this place definitely is worth visiting. They have a beautiful Native American exhibit and a huge mammoth fossil. The exhibits are easy to follow and they have loads of artifacts neatly organized and definitely a dream place for any curious child and adult! There are elevators to go up to the second floor which has a couple of huge rooms filled with beautiful paintings. There is also an area on the second floor that has floor to ceiling glass walls that look out to lake Michigan. There is a gift shop on the ground floor as you enter which is a perfect location as you're exiting the museum. The ground floor also has a kids area called 'The Field Station' which has different stations (such as zoology, art, anthropology, paleontology and geology stations) to let kids explore the arts and science. As a family, we had a great time here, and definitely can see ourselves back here again soon!

    Polar bear
    Brent B.

    I enjoyed the Kenosha (free, donation appreciated) Museum. The first floor had many very interesting fossils and artifacts. Charming woman, who runs the trading post, and I talked a while. She went to the digs of the TRex in the Dakotas. Finding a fossil of a crocodilian. She plays the flute to add colour to the 1st floor: hope you get to meet her. The 2nd floor had an exhibit of 19th century Japanese wood block and water colour pieces. The revivalist teacher wanted to reintroduce an artistic style and method lost to Japan: while teaching the method to students to create in the old style with modern influence. Dioramas of ancient and old masters at work. You will see in my picture the Elgin marbles displayed. Also, on this floor are 'curiosity cabinets' full of mostly random items the wealthy stole from far off lands. These collections collected, eventually, into what we see as the natural history museums of the 19th and 20th century.

    Brad C.

    You can tour it in 30 minutes but for the price (free) it is worth your time. Mammoths downstairs, art up. Clean and maintained well. We had the most fun in the kids area (another 30 minutes). Now that I reflect, that is where they excelled here, the kids hands on stuff. It really was a great interactive section. We came up here for the Jelly Belly (storage facility) tour and this was a b or c list stop. Glad we did it though.

    Dustin B.

    Cool little museum. The displays are very well done. Lots of information for those who want to read and learn more. The second floor had a great water color art exhibit when we were there. The field study area for kids was lots of fun for my son.

    Stephen K.

    Really wonderful place to visit while in Kenosha. I had the opportunity to learn a lot about the history of Kenosha. The statues of the animals were very realistic and beautiful. The gift shop was reasonably priced as well. I would go back to just talk to the lady running the trading post. She really made the place authentic.

    View from second floor window...beautiful!
    Elan J.

    Guitar exhibit today...super-cool!!! Les Paul was from Waukesha? WOW. Train set on first floor for Christmas, very nice. Also early horror movie poster exhibit.

    Kenosha Public Museum Exterior with glass "glacier"

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    18 years ago

    A nice museum in a modern building....admission is free, and the museum is very kid friendly!

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    Ask the Community - Kenosha Public Museum

    Review Highlights - Kenosha Public Museum

    My favorite part of the museum is the look out area on the second floor with the prettiest view of the water.

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    Russell Military Museum

    Russell Military Museum

    3.7
    (33 reviews)

    Owner was such a welcoming man with great information and jokes. So much to see here with so much…read morehistory. Seeing all the tanks, airplanes, helicopters and equipment is so neat. I highly recommend seeing all this place offers reminding us of our past and all those who fought and lost their lives for us. Thank you!

    When I was young this place was located up the interstate a bit in Kenosha County. I hadn't visited…read moresince 1992 so we stopped in recently on a Wisconsin apple picking trip. The newer location is much larger than the old one and has more indoor space in what looks like a repurposed truck repair facility. The buildings are well maintained and there's a large gift shop with some old surplus bits and pieces for sale along with t-shirts, flags, posters and so on. The proprietor was friendly and explained where to follow the path through the indoor portion to the larger outdoor equipment. The indoor collection is much larger than the old location had. They have multiple historic vehicles, uniformed dummies, cases with supplies and equipment, framed medal collections and usually signs to explain what you're seeing. The outdoor collection is really cool. Here you'll find, in addition to the expected collection of Peacekeeper armored cars and old tanks, unusual stuff like a Mil-24 Hind gunship which I always thought was the coolest looking helicopter ever. They also have some trainer jets, an F-15, a Reaper drone, other helicopters and vehicles. Some of the jets have airline stair trucks parked alongside so you can walk up and see into the interior. They do events with their vehicles where you can ride in them on the property and others where they squash junk cars with tanks. Exit through the gift shop. Their T-shirts are priced pretty fairly. A fun place for history buffs, families with kids and anyone else interested in this kind of thing. By the way, it's located in Russell. The western border of Zion is like 2 miles east of them. Google maps shows that border but for reasons unknown Google still has it in Zion

    Pritzker Military Museum & Library

    Pritzker Military Museum & Library

    3.7
    (25 reviews)

    Good small museum that isn't too full of stuff but enough to be interesting for a bit. It for sure…read moreisn't as popular as the bigger museums but it's worth checking out if you get a chance. The Pritzker Military Museum is a collection of artifacts from various soldiers and wars. Has artifacts such as medals. You can also use the library if you're a military personnel. Because the museum is pretty small, it won't take most people long to see everything here. It has a pretty simple layout. This is located on the second floor of a building at Michigan and Monroe. It's a $10 admission without any discounts. There's discounts for active military, students, and others. It's a small museum so also think if it as a donation. There's lots of photographs but also artifacts such as medals and uniforms. A few exhibits on POWs including one about the Hanoi Hilton. There's lots to read up on if you're interested in this kind of stuff. Check it out if you're interested in military history. It also has a library if you do research. There's also various events, programs, and other things.

    I noticed that many of these reviews were for their old location in Chicago and not the new place…read morein Kenosha. The building is quite striking from the outside. Unfortunately for me that was the best part of the experience. We happened to arrive on memorial day weekend when they were having a special ceremony. Despite looking at their website it was unclear that their hours were different. They didn't open at 10am but at noon when their special program began. We killed 40 mins thinking that at noon we could get into the building but no we had to wait through the fortunately short ceremony (which was hard to hear due to a poor PA setup). It was free on this day so not sure the regular price but thank goodness because this place was not what we expected. It wasn't really war memorabilia but some exhibits telling stories of some soldiers. Don't get me wrong the exhibit about the chaplain and his collection of glass from damaged European churches during WWII was well done but that was most of what was on display. We spent maybe 30 minutes or so here. I do support the founder Jennifer Pritzker in her stance that she isn't going to let any government officials dictate the stories being told. A benefit of this being a privately funded museum. Nonetheless very underwhelming.

    Kenosha Public Museum - museums - Updated June 2026

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