Old Cowtown Museum

"Self-guided walk/tour time: 2 hours This was by far the biggest highlight of my trip to Wichita, KS. As someone who has never experienced the magic of a historically preserved town such as the Old Cowtown Museum, this was packed full of history, wonders, awe and insight to a different era. My off-season visit on a slightly rainy day left me to be the only visitor on the property, but the staff still greeted me and answered my questions with pleasure. I was at first uncertain how to proceed, what was off-limits, but as you explore and reach locked doors, you simply turn around and explore in a different direction. Most everything is open with exceptions of areas closed for staff or safety, for example, the upstairs of the houses built in ~1850. Understandable. I was able to walk the whole property including stopping for photos, stopping for a soda in their cafe which also had hot food such as hot dogs and convenience snacks. Their self-branded Sarsaparilla was surprisingly good! I took more pictures here than I did my whole trip, I found everything so interesting and I had several moments where though I was alone, my jaw would drop and I exclaimed, "oh my god" in the still, quiet areas. I can imagine that the summer season brings the town to a role-playing ruckus with kids running around, staff dressed in period clothing, etc. but my experience was unique and hard to replicate but I feel so lucky I got to see it the way I did. Definitely recommend an off-season, weekday if you want a quiet, solo walk of the property. Thank you to staff, the keepers of the grounds, the people who maintain this slice of history."

"54 buildings to explore and capture life from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Such a great place to capture history!!"

"While we managed to make it on the hottest weekend of the year - it was still a great time. Most of the buildings are air-conditioned. It was easy to get around for our full family. And very informative. There is enough to see and do to easily make it a full day."

"We went to the Halloween event at Cowtown and it was a really great time! The reenactors are great with the kids and very patient. There was plenty to do and it was a great time! We may have even learned a thing or two which made for some great conversation about history on the drive home."

"I brought a large group to this establishment but didn't go past the gift shop. They all said it was pretty neat. My only dislike was that they allowed this cat to roam free indoors where we were setup to dine. Personally, I feel it's unsanitary to allow animals to be on surfaces where food is being prepared and or eaten. Yuck! The staff was nice and so was the gift shop."