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Kansas City Itineraries
- Western Heritage
- Uniquely Kansas City Shopping
- Family Fun and Adult Adventures
Our location on the Missouri River naturally positioned Kansas City as a starting point for the American West. The city became a stopping point, however brief, during the western migration of emigrants to the bounties, both real and imagined, promised in the unsettled land. Beginning with the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804–1806, four national trails heading west pass through Kansas City, including the Santa Fe, California and Oregon trails. America’s Western heritage begins in Kansas City.
National Frontier Trails Center
The massiveness of the American West that opens up from the doorway of Kansas City will all but overwhelm in the floor-to-ceiling displays here that map each of the trails west. Interactive exhibits test your knowledge of the trails and allow you to see some of the supplies that explorers and pioneers brought through this region.
Jesse James Farm & Museum
Jesse James has garnered such world-wide fame that he’s the subject of a movie starring Brad Pitt, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Jesse was born in Kansas City and his farm home where Jesse and his brother Frank were raised in the mid-1800s has been authentically restored. The museum contains the largest collection of James family artifacts in the world. Jesse’s gravesite at Kearney’s Mount Olivet Cemetery draws thousands of visitors yearly, as does the Jesse James Festival, which takes place at the farm each September.While you are exploring Jesse James history, head to the Jesse James Bank Museum, site of the first U.S. daylight, peacetime bank robbery committed by the James’ gang in nearby Liberty, Missouri.
Arabia Steamboat Museum
In 1856, the steamboat Arabia was on its way upriver to Montana with all of the supplies needed for a small town on the Western frontier. The boat hit a snag in the Missouri River and sank near Parkville. In 1988, the Arabia was recovered with all of its cargo intact. It now stands as a one-of-a-kind museum offering a fascinating display of early Western life.
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