The first Museum building was built more than a century ago in 1867. There are presently five buildings of historic and collectable items open to the public.
Building No. 1 is the orginal Museum Building with an attached annex. You can step back in time and enter a parlor and kitchen of the 1800s. See Walter Johnson's birth bed. The Annex houses a display and history of Monarch Cement plus fashions from the 1900s and War Memorabilia.
Building No. 2 is the replica of a one room country school complete with furnishings. It also houses a large collection of Lewis Howland's iron toys. There are many pictures and albums and other abundant genealogy sources: Civil War Letters, Military documents, Land Grants, and Civil War memorabilia.
A DVD is available for viewing; it features the Great Escape of Creek Leader Opothleyahola, who led 10,000 Indians and 600 of their Black slaves out of Confederate controlled Indian Territory into Free State Kansas during the winter of 1861-62. Learn how Humboldt was involved in this important but little known Civil War history. A brochure guides you on a 4-County tour of this amazing story.
Building No. 3 houses many of the handtools used by local farmers and a unique Barbed Wire Collection. There is a wide variety of different forms of washing machines and a collection of Arthur Bulk's authenic miniature steam engines that are operated by gasoline or air, plus much more.
Building No. 4 is an open pole building which contains many types of horse drawn, antique farm equipment.
Annex No. 5, which is our newest building was dedicated in 1999. It houses 500 scale model horse-drawn circus wagons, Stage Coaches and many different types of carriages crafted by Lewis Howland. It also houses two horse drawn hearses, one adult and one infant. A wall display of pictures and articles pertain to the two Humboldt born great Baseball players, Walter Johnson and George Sweatt.
Our museum complex houses many more artifacts not mentioned here. Bathrooms and water are available for our visitors. The Museum is located by the Neosho River, with picnic tables under beautiful shade trees.