Old Cowtown Museum

We were looking for something to do while in Wichita, Kansas for the day. We spent about an hour here. We walked around and looked inside the houses, businesses, and the farm area. They did have sheep. There was a lot of kids there. It was a weekday, so it probably was a school field trip. I expected more staff to be dressed like that era, but I only encountered one staff member on the grounds. It is interesting finding the history behind this town. Only $10 to go in which isn't bad for an hour of entertainment. Wear comfortable walking shoes because it is a good walk. Parking is free and on site.

I thought this place was outstanding and one of the best places to visit in Wichita. You can easily spend 2-3 hours here going through the various houses and rooms and you really come out with a great vision of how life was on the frontier back 150+ years ago. My how far we've come!I really enjoyed the "shoot outs" -- a MUST if you're going to visit. Really great reenactment of "shoot outs" -- great costumes, actors, lots of fun for the whole family. Adults and kids will enjoy the show these people put on. The blacksmith was also a very cool experience -- you can witness a real life modern day blacksmith working with horribly smelling coal as the fuel! A must when visiting Wichita.

Well I'm a pretty fast museum walker. They shut off entry at 4. Not said close at 5. It does not. It actually closes at 4. The gentleman was a little less than friendly. Unfortunate for me, as I won't be back to Wichita.

I went with my daughter when I came to visit her in Wichita Kansas in May. I absolutely felt so happy and relaxed and felt like I went back in time. I enjoyed the exhibits and learning about the history of Wichita back in the day. The saloon was a nice experience as well. We enjoyed a hot dog and an old fashioned root beer. We even got to meet a dress maker in one of the shops. I felt like I was on the scene of Little House on the Prairie. I will definitely be back to visit.

Great place for family trip. Really for any age. We happened to go in a Sunday with free entry. Lots of historical information. Highly recommend!

I love these types of museums. Step back and walk through many buildings, many original from the 1800s. They were very neat to see. A bit heartbreaking to see how dirty they were. Lots and lots of dust, windows filled with dead bugs. Would have been really neat to have some sort of food/ cafe options. Or to have people doing some sort of woodworking, black smithing ect. Great value for the money.

I came here with my family to get to know what Wichita was all about. You can spend many hours here. There are cute little houses in original form that you can go into and see what it was like back then. They have items that are also original. They have a show they put on and it's a lot of fun. If you have little kids they would enjoy going here. I cant wait to bring my kids here when we visit again

Fantastic museum. They have so many original buildings that are beautifully decorated. You can go in almost all of them and explore which gives you a really good feeling of what Wichita was like back in the late 1800s.

We actually went here back in March and it was super a fun little trip! I'm from the Indianapolis area and this place reminds me of the Kansas version of Connor Prairie (which is a must-see in Indiana!). It's an outdoor interactive museum that takes you back to the 1860s and 1870s along the Arkansas River. There are 54 structures, many of those re original buildings, and during their peak season (April-October) they have actors that play in character. The saloon actually serves drinks (soda and water) and snack foods that you can order at the "bar." The kids will love getting up on the stage to "preform" and munching on their yummy popcorn and root beer. Several homes, a theatre, ballroom, doctor's office, school, mill, and many more buildings are here. Some containing original items on display or allowing interactive play. We went during the day when it was dead and it almost felt like a ghost town - we got the whole place to ourselves!Also splurged on some old time portraits and the Old Time Photos building, I believe it was like $30 for 5 of us. Fun!

I have been to Colonial Williamsburg countless times. I thought this would be a LOT more like that. My mistake. My expectations were way too high. Whereas Colonial Williamsburg consulted with the Walt Disney Company to make almost a theme park, Cowtown Museum is really just a museum. Instead of people in period costumes in the buildings and walking around, it was mostly just dusty items in buildings for us to go in and look at and then leave. There was a guy in the printing press building. It would have been nice to see someone in the blacksmith building and the carpentry building and in the general store ...We ate at the Saloon. It had sarsaparilla which was good. Hotdog bratwursts. Are they period food? I don't know. The pretzel probably isn't period food. It came with melted nacho cheese in a plastic container. The one cool thing was learning about the 10 cent magazines from the time period, and seeing actors have a shootout in the Main Street. Most of them ended up dead at the end. I wanted more people , cleaner props, cleaner buildings. It all just felt old and not well kept, instead of immersing us in history as if we were really there, back in time. I also feel like the gift shop could have had more choices of period toys, food (like rock candy?), jewelry, playing cards, tea sets, horseshoes ... things that feel more appropriate. I had promised to send a friend a postcard and all the postcards were of actors. I didn't feel any of them conveyed that Cowtown is a fun place to go. I didn't want to send my friend a postcard of an actor. My friend we went with is a native Kansan, and he had never been there or even heard of the place. We tourists got him to go. I doubt he will ever feel like going back with his friends or family.