The Cotton Museum at the Memphis Cotton Exchange

" A Must See In Memphis "The Cotton Museum is a must see wen you are in Memphis, TN. Most people only want to see and think of music when they come to Memphis. But the Cotton industry is a huge historical story on how the city of Memphis grew over the years. Seeing this Museum will answer most of your questions about the cotton Industry. The have videos, and many displays for you to see, walk around , touch, and wonder about.

A buddy of mine and I went to the exchange yesterday. I've been to Memphis several times but this was my first time visiting this museum and had actually never heard of it. We got there around 3:30 pm and purchased our tickets and started watching the video. The main video lays the groundwork for what you are about to start looking learning.The video system was glitchy and it took several minutes for it to start working after the guide pushed the button. The history of this building is amazing and artifacts are really cool.We finished up on the main side of the museum and walked over to the other side, nearest the cash register. We spoke to the cashier as we walked by. We spent a few minutes in this second section and then walked back into the gift shop. We walked into the shop around 4:50 pm, they close at 5 however, they had already closed. This made it difficult to purchase anything. Finally, after I told the cashier that this incident would go on Yelp, he yielded and accepted my friend's money for a coffee mug.I recommend checking this place out, but get there early and don't expect them to stay open. I would expect them to close before their posted closing time, especially on a Friday.

I really enjoyed learning about the history of the cotton exchange and all the people whose lives were influenced by the industry. The videos were very well made and I enjoyed watching the actual employees from that era! The actual bales of cotton and equipment is a nice added touch that brings great authenticity!Great staff too! Loved it!

As a venue space, this place gets 5 stars. It is absolutely gorgeous and in perfect condition. Plus the history of this place rocks. And as everyone mentions, the chalkboards with the cotton numbers are super duper cool and I really enjoyed the exhibits...especially the Cotton Carnival ones...because I was a Cotton Carnival Princess back in the day. Oh goodness...10 years...where does the time go?? Speaking of 10...the price of admission is $10 and while that isn't ridiculously expensive, I did think it was a bit on the high side. I understand it takes money to keep the museum running but I think $7 is a bit more fair. Just my two cents. Oh! But the gift shop. Do not miss that place because I got the cutest cotton wreath for my door ever and they also have local goodies like soaps and art. Perfect for unique and local holiday shopping.

Apparently, the Memphis Cotton Exchange trading floor used to be a pretty wild place. The floor was members only (and those members were a very manly crowd). When trading would wind down for the day, the members played a lot of dominoes, smoked cigars and have a fairly raucous time.Now, the old exchange floor is home to the Cotton Museum of Memphis. Cotton trading has moved into office buildings around downtown and the exchange floor is much less rowdy.You enter the museum through the gift shop on the corner of Front and Union downtown. If Carol is working at the desk, be sure to chat with her - she's a cotton goddess. She knows just about everything there is to know about the history of cotton in Memphis, cotton production and the different uses for the plant.For such a small museum, the Cotton Museum packs an informational wallop. There's a lot of multimedia. My favorite were the phone booths where you could watch short oral histories from people who have been involved in the cotton business. The museum is still looking for people to be a part of the project, so if you know someone who'd like to, please let them know.The most recent addition to the museum is a short guided walking tour. Pick up an iPod at the desk and walk along Union and Front learning about the daily lives of the people who built Memphis into a major center of commerce.

OMG...the history in these walls !!! Can you just see it...close your eyes and imagine you just walked into the doors of the busiest place on earth..it was in the late 1800's or early 1900's and you were standing there, just turning around in a slow circle drinking it all in...I love going to places and imagining myself there...in the middle of it all..They were actually closed today for a special event, but I bought a groupon coupon and we came from Nashville a 4 1/2 hr drive one way to see the Cotton Exchange ..they were so good and let us in. We viewed the big open room and learned about all the history of the area and how it effected the exchange...You got to see it...If you go, please share on Yelp.com and leave some photos..but most of all enjoy the scenery and soak it all in...

It's 10 per person to get in to the museum but we found a group on for 19 for 4 people. You need at least 2 hrs to get through this museum with watching all the videos they have to show you and see everything. It's one big room so there isn't that much to look at but it is very intricate and detailed. The person taking tickets gave us a really nice background history of the museum because we were from out of town. Very cool museum and interesting, only down fall is that it is a little small.

Interesting piece of history here. Cotton was "King" and Memphis was where the trading and business occurred.

Loved this, Very informative flash cardsNice gift shop and only $10 to get inI took many photos and I enjoyed the atmosphere

I was pretty excited about going to this museum so when we got there it was a little bit of a disappointment. I expected to get a real understanding of HOW the cotton exchange worked, like the economics of it. Instead it was this strange exhibit that seemed to focus on music history. It was as if the Museum says "thank god cotton was so unbearably oppressive to slaves because their misery gave us the Blues, isn't that great?" The inside of the building with the big chalkboard wall was cool to see but I don't feel like I understand how it all worked any better now than before I got to the museum. I think the vision of this exhibition is misguided. The music history of memphis is great but there are already tons of places dedicated to that. A quick reference to blues would be understandable but literally all of the central cases are regarding that topic. It's fine if you want to go check it out but we probably wouldn't go back.