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October 2024 by Sheryl Deaton
This is a seriously amazing place.
The videos are wonderful. The onsite docent has so much fun information. The restoration tech answered all my questions and was very knowledgeable. Don't forget to make a wish and throw a coin in the water. They have the best gift shop of all the museums I have been in!
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September 2024 by Steve Baldwin
A Truly OUTSTANDING EXHIBITION PERIOD!
AN OUTSTANDING DISPLAY OF LOST ITEMS TO HISTORY 128 YEARS WHICH YOU WILL FIND TRULY AMAZING, by actually chatting with the conservationists doing the restoration as you walk around the "ship" on the basement floor!
I HAVEN'T EVER BEEN TO ANOTHER MUSEUM DISPLAY: SO WELL DISPLAYED, & SO WELL uEXPLAINED THAN THIS to ARABICA STEAMBOAT!
AND I'VE BEEN TOO MANY A MUSEUM!
NOTE: THIS PLACE SHOULDN'T BE MISSED!!!
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!
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February 2024 by Tessa Bloomquist
What a fantastic museum! I was super intersted in everything I looked at. One of the people who work here is actually one of the guys that helped dig up the boat! He came up to my boyfriend and I and not only answered any questions we had, but also helped us understand the history behind what we were looking at. Getting the direct insight about the history if these artifacts made the visit 10 times more interesting! You can tell that the people who work here are very passionate about this place. I highly recommend taking the trip here!
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February 2024 by Tracy Travis
It was closed because of the parade
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February 2024 by Nick Will
Amazing history
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February 2024 by Jonathan Tschiggfrie
We are a pair of steamboat historians. We thought the presentation of the story of the location and excavation of the wreck was excellent. The collection is certainly impressive, but in particular we enjoyed speaking with a member of the conservation staff (Len W, if memory serves) who generously answered all of our many questions and clearly had a passion for their work.The main deck steamboat display was very well dine, and the interpretive signage most helpful - not just for us, but also for the general public. While we were there, several locals mentioned that they’ve been there multiple times over the years and keep coming back and also recommend the museum to all their visiting family and friends.Our only disappointment was that neither of the two books published about the ARABIA remain in print nor, we were told, are available used online. But of course this isn’t the fault of the museum, and the videos and displays at the museum do a fine job of telling the story. We were also fortunate to speak with Matt Hawley, son of one of the original project team and now runs marketing for the museum. We hope the museum continues to operate for many years to come and can potentially serve as the seed for the establishment of a national steamboat interpretive center.
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January 2024 by Chad Freeman
This place is an absolute gem in City Market. I've taken all my friends and family from out-of-town to this unique museum. It's definitely a Kansas City area treasure.
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December 2023 by Michelle Hull
My mom and I stumbled across this by accident. We are from Washington, MO and we’re in KC for 2 days and were looking for something to do. We were going to the Wizard candy shop and then we’re walking around the mall when we found it. We had to to the museum. Very educational and very exciting to learn something new. Never learn about Arabia steamboat in school. I feel like we should as it is apart of American history. Staff was very friendly and will to answer all questions.
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November 2023 by Christopher Cummins
Great place to take the family. We saw people of all ages at the museum. They have lots of videos for you to watch and learn about the steamboats, lots of artifacts on display. What i found interesting is they were still cleaning stuff and they did it right in front of you. The scientist that was working on a wagon wheel was puzzled because the mollusk were only eating the metal part of the wheel, not the wood...which is just weird.We spent about 90minutes, maybe 2 hours going through everything. Very unique attraction for Kansas City.
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November 2023 by Flere Bear
This was very interesting. Maybe I’m enjoying history more now that I’m older. There were short videos in the beginning that talk about the history and who eventually recovered all of the artifacts. A must see if you are in the area.
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September 2023 by Claire P.
This museum is fantastic!!! This is such a fascinating story and there are a ton of interesting things to see. The pricing is a bit steep and they don't really have interactive items for kids, which are the two downfalls. That said, kids are going to love the working steamship wheel, science people will love the open air conservation studios, and engineers will love the explanations of the steamship.
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September 2023 by Shawn C.
Wonderful museum to visit for the history , the story, and for what it is and how they preserved all the artifacts for everyone to enjoy! A must see when visiting Kansas City, missouri! Has the regular fees to visit a museum but worth it, if you appreciate the history and antiques from the 1800s!
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August 2023 by Greg J.
I drove by this place 3 times before I finally saw it. It's in the city market area and I was too busy looking at all the shops and restaurants to see the big sign! I think parking is free, at least I parked right on front and didn't see anything telling me to pay. The museum is on the lower level. I paid upstairs and walked down the ramp. There are 4 video stations along the way telling the story of the ship and the guys that excavated it. The displays were pretty basic, even when I got to the lower level and saw the skeleton of the stern. You then go in to a small theater and watch a 14 minute movie that was a little redundant. Then you exit the theater and WOW! They have display room after display room of all the stuff they recovered. I've never seen anything like it. It is like they have all of the in tact inventory of a large department store from 150 years ago. Just about everything families in the west would need was well displayed. I can't imagine there is a collection like this anywhere else in the country. An employee told me that less than half of the collection is displayed. After the display they have the restoration area and you can see what some of the items look like before they are restored. There are more displays about the people who excavated the ship, the snag that sunk the ship, the boiler, the paddle wheel and the skeleton of the only casualty of the sinking. All in all a marvelously complete story is told. I was very impressed.
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August 2023 by Jo C.
Wow! Such a cool presentation of fabulous artifacts. So proud of the team that discovered this and the fact that they are sharing it with us.
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August 2023 by Laura Humphrey
So cool! We took my 2 year old and 9 month old. The baby could have cared less but liked looking at people but our 2 year old loved the giant water wheel and some of the other bigger things. My husband and I thought it was so interesting what good condition it all was in! They had such a nice little gift shop with some old school toys which felt very appropriate. We didn’t find any changing tables in the community bathrooms for this little area. Maybe they have them and we couldn’t find them…
