Reviews of Shawnee Indian Mission State Historic Site (Museum)

Jolene Morel

So great to have this history so close. Love visiting here.

Christoforo Morin

Don't miss the Shawnee Indian Mission State Historic Site! A great trip for my whole family with interesting history and fun for every age. My kids thought they would be bored but they were anything but.. A must see while in the area. This is really interesting about the history of the mission and the Methodist minister who founded it. The buildings are almost eerily empty when a festival isn't going on. It is historical and worth seeing. More information on the history of the times and exhibits would be worthwhile. Everyone was friendly and helpful.

Ginny Madden

This place is idyllic. It's nestled in a sweet, treed neighborhood. It is instantly peaceful. The grounds herald the call to use native plants. This is great place to wander, meditate or have a lovely picnic. Great for kids and families.

Harry Moyer

My experience here may not be typical of an average visit. There is a main building which houses a museum and gives tours of the historic Indian mission. In my visit, I was on staff with our scouting District's annual Cub Scout Day Camp, which lasted a week at the Indian mission. We used the larger part of their property mostly on the North side of the street from the museum Part. There are actually many structures on property that are part of the mission, and it is a beautiful property that I would call a park that is located adjacent to Bishop Miege High School and St Agnes Catholic Church. The area is well shaded yet visible and great for short hikes and walking the dog (following the signs provided) in beautiful Fairway, Kansas. This is one of the most historical locations in Johnson County Kansas which helps to explain the early development of territorial Kansas, the naming of the county, and the policies that white settlers had with Native Americans. The museum does a good job of describing life both as a settler and Native American during the different ages of the early 1800s to present day.

Bruce Van Laere

Nice Fall festival.

butta bean

You can feel the history here

Laura M Bernard

Amazing

Jim Mulloy

Great place

Reilly Bowes

Best high school in Kansas

Jessica Lewis

Great historical location and a great fall festival in the beginning of October

Tammy Wilson

Love it

Danielle Tyrrel

Went for a tea party. Staff was very friendly; taught the girls about living in a small cabin, traveling on the trail, making crafts, and even let the girls dress up in pioneer clothes.

Claude Yves

Awesome place

D P

A great place for learning and information

Jessica Christensen

Nov 21, 2017 Edit: Through conversation with the staff, I've learned that there is some balanced attention given to union soldiers as well as confederates. However, most of my original points below still stand. The place does not give much respect to the kids the school was built for, in comparison against the information about the civil war. _______ The place doesn't have alot of open information about the children that lived here, or their families and culture. It heavily glorifies the pro slavery Johnson and the Confederates who bunked there. Instead of recreating the rooms were the children slept, played, were taught, ate, and possibly kept in touch with their families (no evidence is shown either way) the museum features a room devoted to the Confederates who stayed there. The reasons as to the schools disbanding are kept vague, emphasis is put instead on how much of a loss it was for Johnson. No mention is made about what this meant for the children, where they went, or what happened to them. I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone with a sincere interest in history. It favors a side steeped in racism, insidious hate, and pro slavery. And it ignores the children who most likely had to face a tough life being forced from their culture and made to feel inferior.

James Skivers

Beautiful historic site.

Dennis Putinski

This annual event has good local food. I love the Indian fry bread taco. There is local arts and crafts and musical performers and the Missouri Trappers encampments.

Bob Schmidt

Fascinating to see these from 1839 are kept in good shape, good piece of history..

Kathy Dix

Great experience to tour the beautiful 11 acres and visit the Museum to learn about the Founder, Rev. Johnson and his building a Mission for pioneers to stock up on supplies before making the trip on the Santa Fe Trail .

Jill Sullivan

Peaceful place to visit

John Owen

This historic site is a wonderful and interactive resource for learning about the history of indigenous people and what happened in their lives.

paul wilson

This place is so pretty. Very informative as well.

THC LOVE

Perfect place for quick stop or to get ornamental evergreen for house in the winter

R.L. HEARN

All I did was drive by it. Stop broadcasting innocent passersbys. Jerks !

Pratik Home

Native American and emigrant history. Museum has great display. Staffs are very friendly.

Dave Falke

Nice

J B

Did anyone learn some history here per the Union vs Confederacy comments? The Mission was a Shawnee Methodist mission run by Rev Johnson with his alliance with Chief Parks. Parks was a slave owner and Johnson was a raging pro slavery slave owning preacher. The Shawnee Methodists were a specific band of progressives adopting white ways and in general taking advantage of their more traditional tribal brothers, for example the Black Bob band. No worries, the Shawnee Methodists will in turn get screwed by Johnson who taxes all Shawnee tribal allotments into bankruptcy. See Black Bob and Blue Jacket streets, the Chief Blue Jacket fountain and the Shawnee burial ground in Shawnee. See they have these things called books. Civil War on the Western Border - Monaghan The Shawnees and their Neighbors - Warren

Jim Arndt

Wonderful location with lot's of history, would be nice if they were open more.

Zach Becker

Nestled in the middle of residential neighborhoods, these historic buildings give a unique look into the area's past. The staff was also very nice. A tour of several rooms filled with artifacts is $5, which includes a video presentation.

shelley lewis

Nice Fall festival but is crowded and cramped in event area and parking

Lucy Ladley

So Educational !!!

Emily K

There is a 20 minute film to watch that is very informative about the history. The display exhibits are limited to one of the three buildings. Display is fairly basic, some nice artifacts for kids to look at as well as a space for coloring.

Garrett Gates

Great festivals and one of the best public spaces in KC. Very family friendly but also a great place for young professionals.

T Bone

While this appears to be a delightful place with peaceful and harmony filled groves of trees, I've never been here. I was driving down and around mission eating some delicious mexican food and this popped up. I really like queso with my street tacos but this time I was going to try out something new: Pezole, a traditional mexican soup with pork and hominey... I've heard it's quite good and cant wait to try some. Um, and go to this cute park.

Mary Thompson

Jennifer is the most kindest and sweetest person. It was a pleasure to work with while filming my husband project, A Ridiculous Notion.

brandy lee

Very interesting place! We visited to have professional photos taken.

Shelley Crain

What they have is cool, the video good,but they could add more displays and info

Heather Leffel

Love the Fall Festival!

Leland Sindt

Inaccurate

Katherine Stafford

I visited this beautiful historic site today, with my husband. Shawnee Indian Mission, was well kept, the volunteers, and the woman who worked there, were very informative. So, before I started typing this review, I read some of the other reviews. Unfortunately, I have come to the conclusion, that you really cannot write a review of a history museum, if you do not know your history. The person who reviewed this museum, claimed the museum had confederate war items....the museum had nothing like that. I read every form of information that was on display here. I was shocked to even had read that review. Johnson, was Union. The whole town was Union, the museum had Union Attire. They had nothing confederate in the museum. Maybe, the person who reviewed this meseum, did not even visit the museum? Maybe, they don’t know history? The museum was far from what the reviewer posted. We go to museums’ to educate ourselves, and to learn from the past. We all should support our history. I am glad they had Native American, items here and had beautiful displays of their culture. The museum was mostly veered towards the life of Native Americans, when they stayed there. It was very refreshing!

Will Lehotz

Interesting history. Good place to walk your dog, it's not a real big area but it has an interesting history.

Sheila Dressman

The history is preserved beautifully.

Bryce Kuder

Love history!