This is the best in the neighborhood…read more What can I day meals on wheels!! Working out ! The pool !! Free movie's on Wed afternoon Do not tell me you have nothing to do and the library is next doors!!! Great for young and old and between!!!

Talk about a fabulous way to repurpose an iconic building in JoCo! The site of the old King Louie…read morebowling alley has given way to the Arts & Heritage Center containing an exhibit better known as the Johnson County Museum. Instead of erecting another concrete monstrosity, JoCo took a piece of its expansion and history to house that very same dynamic. The Arts & Heritage Center itself is a wonderful facility, blending local & regional art, classes, and community space. It also doubles as an election polling location particularly focused on early voting opportunities (exercise your right!). Taking that classic 1960s suburban architecture, complete with stone walls & beams in a pseudo-flying buttress, and turning it into a new piece of the community is a *chef's kiss* of civic planning. Where you once may have tried to pick up a 7-10 split, you now can tour decades of people & progress. The museum itself costs $6 for adults with discounted admission for seniors, veterans, & children. It doesn't take long to get immersed in the interactivity and to get mesmerized by JoCo's storied past. Take in the public art displays or stop into the gift shop for keepsakes of the visit. Virtually every event has been well-documented, notable people are memorialized, and the chronology only keeps moving forward. Northeast Kansas continues to grow and find new ways to reinvent progress, so be sure to grasp the spirit of expansion that has occurred in this beautiful metro area.

"Everything in life is somewhere else, and you get there in a car." -E.B. White…read more The Kansas City Automotive Museum is one of those places where the experience shifts every time you walk through the door, because the cars on display rotate in and out and each one is a "gift" from an owner who decided to share their automotive "sculpture" with the rest of us. The vehicles are packed in ticket and nearly every one comes with a caption that gives you a little history lesson about the manufacturer, the model and often the personal story of how it ended up in the owner's hands. Most of the displays include QR codes with translations, which is a thoughtful touch especially if English isn't your primary language and you want to dig deeper into the details. On my visit, the standouts were the 1925 Jordan Seven Passenger Sedan, the 1929 Packard Roadster, and the 1959 Chevy El Camino, each one rare, beautiful, and full of character. There were at least a dozen other rare cars plus a great display about the former Leeds factory, complete with memorabilia and artifacts that add a layer of Kansas City history to the experience. If you're a real fan like me, expect to spend two hours, wandering, reading, admiring and appreciating what these owners have chosen to share. Don't miss the posters on the wall with other interesting details and history. It's a tremendous time. [Review 842 of 2026 - 149 in Kansas - 26023 overall]

What a curious creation. This place is an amalgam of the collections of the donors, as most cars in…read morethis facility are temporarily donated by benefactors, supportive of the idea of a collection of vehicle history in one place. The cars were beautiful, though if I'm being honest plainly beautiful. There also weren't too many options to choose from, to catch the wandering eye. It feels like it's less a museum, and more of a person dedicating their life to a car club of sorts. This place is a gussied up garage of shorts. There's a couple of notable pieces in here that capture the mind for a short moment or two, and some displays, thematic in nature, are of interest. But, I could take this or leave it mostly. Maybe I'm not that in the cars is the problem. The most interesting part I think is that the vehicles are all donated on loan from benefactors, and the collection changes all the time. The community of this seems most interesting. I felt almost like I was in the cleanest garage of all time, and not ever like I was in a museum filled with pieces of wonderful human innovation. If you're in the vehicles, you probably would like it more than I did. I thought I did, but in my old age it just seems to be metal and glass not long for this side of the scrap heap.

Beautiful building. The main hall is free and open to anyone. Lots of cool info on dinosaurs,…read morespace, and an interactive section where you take a quiz, make a dinosaur and see it on a big screen next to you. Upstairs is a discovery room that I want to like so much but it's just so poorly run. It seems to me that there's not enough staff or funding maybe to keep everything organized and neat so a lot of it is disheveled or there's stuff missing. Worth a visit on a free day or with a pogo pass but I wouldn't pay for it.

Positives: Beautiful building, nice staff, not too busy, generally clean, affordable, some fun…read morethings in the Discovery Area for kids. Negative: I would say that the main floor really needs to add some more displays or exhibition pieces. I feel like there's a lot of space that could be better utilized. My grandkids weren't that excited about the main floor. The discovery room area primarily for children has some neat displays, but could have a little bit more interactive play areas instead of just viewing displays.

Checked out this art museum with my boyfriend! We love contemporary art, some really amazing pieces…read moreto enjoy and ponder about. We went on a Saturday so it was not busy at all, and had plenty of time to just hangout!

My first time to this contemporary museum but not for lack of trying. This museum has wonderful and…read morediverse programming for the family. And it's free. The museum's current exhibit is KC native Jeremy Scott (Moschino) & Katherine Bernhardt show thru aug. 3, 2025. This museum is a Johnson County treasure.

It's air conditioned and plenty of places to sit in each area. That's all that really matters.read more

This was a fun place to spend an hour or two with my toddlers before starting a long car drive! We…read moregot in for about 50% off using our Children's museum pass from another state. Loved the outdoor space to explore with little trikes and a playhouse, wheelbarrows, etc. There were several reading books set areas set up with books to read to your kids, a large overhead climbing area, lots of busy boards, tables set up with smaller building toys for older kids, and more!

I'm at work and I casually reference Jesse James to a co-worker and he asks - "Who is Jesse…read moreJames?". I couldn't believe that anyone didn't know about JJ, but growing up in Samoa without a TV left my friend out of the loop. I immediately told him - "Saturday we are educating you on a local legend that became internationally renown". My friend, his wife and I arrived at noon on a Saturday and paid $6 each for the bank museum tour. The guide was very friendly and laid a deep explanation of what Clay County and the James family were experiencing during and right after the Civil War. The weather the day of the robbery, the layout of the Liberty square, the medical and mental state of Jesse, who the bankers were and their reactions and actions all told while you see the clock set to the exact time and date of the event, hear the old wooden floor creak beneath you and are surrounded by artifacts or replica's of the items originally inside the bank; the description makes you feel that you are a witness to America's 1st daylight bank robbery. My friend and his wife are now sold on the legend of The James Family and want to see the house museums in Kearney and St. Joe now. A great inexpensive way to spend an hour or so and relive some of the areas infamous past. They also have a backroom with family and area artifacts. The gift shop is free to enter and shouldn't be missed by anyone traveling thru even if you don't have time for the tour.

The Jesse James Bank Museum is pretty darn cool. It was the site of the first daytime bank…read morerobbery, which was executed by members of the James gang. I had read about this robbery in a book, I believe, and now I was able to stand in the old bank building itself, which was really cool. They have restored it to the way it would have looked back in those days, and it's a great little stop to soak in some history of the area in and around Liberty. The woman who gave the tour was extremely friendly and enthusiastic about answering questions and talking about the history of the place. It made us want to further explore the James sites in the area, in Kearney and around Clay County. Having read about Jesse James and his terrorist gangs and how he came of age participating in the hatred, violence and strife during the Civil War and the period following, it's really interesting to physically be in the area and see some of these landmarks with your own eyes. Jesse James was not a hero, even though he's now somewhat romanticized as such. There is a lot of information in the back room of the museum, which displays some really great photos, documents and trinkets from the era. Up front is a gift shop and then there is the main bank room, with its vault open. You can really get a sense of place when you're here, and it's easy to imagine two bushwackers coming in and threatening the lives of the unarmed bankers. Bank robberies are a dime a dozen in movies, but when you see something like this in person it's very arresting. It's a cool experience. I would recommend the Jesse James Bank Museum to anyone with an interest in Missouri or American history. It's very affordable ($6 for adults, $3.50 for kids) and a pleasant and informative way to spend an hour or two. This location is a nationally registered historic place, so pitch in and help keep it going.

Our son is hard of hearing and we receive ASL instruction from a Deaf mentor, so we aren't new to…read moreDeaf history & culture. We were really excited to check this place out! First off, the volunteer was so friendly and helpful. The video was a little outdated, but a great overview of Deaf challenges & history. We spent a lot of time in the De'VIA (Deaf visual arts) section. This was probably the most meaningful for us. History of the Deaf experience in America was really interesting. They have displays on the history of ASL, Gallaudet University, cultural prejudices, Deaf work/careers in Us history, and a whole section on the history of Deaf education in Kansas (this museum is across the street from Kansas's Deaf school). This museum is free and gives a great overview of America's Deaf history and a view into what it is like to be Deaf in America today. Concepts like audism (trying to make Deaf people basically into hearing people in as many respects as possible, instead of respecting Deaf as whole persons already) were presented so well. (As a side note, the museum does contain one error - Alexander Graham Bell was a participant in the eugenics movement and did actively lobby to break up Deaf culture in order to discourage Deaf intermarriage and therefore prevent more congenital deafness and make Deaf people more "normal" by forcing them to practice "oralism" - but he did not advocate for making Deaf intermarriage illegal, as the plaque states.)

I was visiting town to see a friend at the Renaissance Fair a few months back, and happened to find…read morethis museum while doing a quick search before I left. Although my experience with the Deaf is relatively limited, I've had an interest in ASL since I was young so I was very excited to come and visit! I walked in and went directly to the gift shop, thinking I should wait for someone to lead me into the museum. I found several things that I wanted to buy after I viewed the museum itself, including ILY keychains and more! The museum itself does have a lot to read, but it was very interesting to learn more about the Deaf and their culture. They also have a quiz you can take at the end of the museum. You get the answers from the exhibits, although it seems that I did miss a few! To reiterate though, there is a lot of reading and I probably got through half (maybe less) of the museum before I started cherry-picking what to read and look at. In that regard, it might be best to come back several times, if you can, and take it in little by little! I also got a chance to practice my sign language skills, which I hardly ever do, so I was barely conversational. That could be partly attributed to being nervous though, since it is a foreign language to me. Nonetheless, if you get the chance to sign/speak with the volunteers (emplyees?) there, do it! They were both very fun to converse with.