Buchanan County: Museums, History and Nature

Buchanan County offers a range of themes to plan your visit around: riverside surroundings and trails, historically significant homes and courthouses, and museums with very different collections. When planning your hotel stay, it helps to start by deciding which of these themes will shape your trip: nature, architecture, local history, or art.

Nature, Trails, and Camping

The Remington Nature Center is located on the Missouri River in St. Joseph. Its surroundings include natural habitats for birds and other animals, prairie and wildflower areas, and a paved walking trail. Krug Park offers something different, with unpaved hiking trails and a lagoon. When planning your visit, you can distinguish between the paved trail around the Nature Center and the park’s unpaved trails without treating the two natural areas as the same.

The campground at Lewis and Clark State Park offers basic campsites, sites with electrical hookups, and sites with electrical, sewer, and water hookups. The types of hookups are a practical distinction if camping is part of your trip plans. Availability and reservation terms may change, so check the current campground booking information before your trip.

History from the Pony Express to Jesse James

The Patee House is a National Historic Landmark because it served as the Pony Express headquarters in 1860. It is also a museum of communications and transportation. Another date marks the beginning of the Pony Express: on April 3, 1860, a single rider set out from the Pikes Peak Stables in St. Joseph. The stables at the Pony Express National Museum house a modern, interactive, and educational presentation of the history and legend of the Pony Express. The Patee House and the museum thus cover different aspects: the building’s historical connection and an exhibition about the Pony Express.

The Buchanan County Courthouse also brings together architectural history and a court case from the history of Jesse James. Built in 1873, the building houses the courtroom where the Ford brothers stood trial for the murder of Jesse James. The courthouse is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Mount Mora Cemetery was established in 1851 and is listed on the register as well. Its winding paths and striking monuments give the site a distinctive landscape character.

Jesse James was shot and killed in his home on April 3, 1882. The Jesse James Home is a museum about his life and death. Objects on display from his grave include coffin handles, a tie pin, a bullet removed from his right lung area, and a cast of his skull. This offers a different perspective on history from the architectural and legal history of the courthouse: the focus here is Jesse James and the artifacts associated with him.

Museums, Homes, and Collections

The east wing of Robidoux Row is a house museum. Its furnishings include a reconstruction of Joseph Robidoux’s personal quarters and a wintering room for a pioneer family passing through. The Wyeth-Tootle Mansion, by contrast, conveys the scale of a 43-room Gothic Revival mansion; its description includes panoramic views of St. Joseph and the Missouri River. The two sites thus offer different architectural themes: reconstructed living spaces in a house museum and a large mansion with its Gothic Revival design.

The Glore Psychiatric Museum documents the history of State Hospital #2. Replicas of historical treatment devices made by George Glore remain an important part of the exhibitions. The Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art offers a different perspective on history: its collection spans American art from the 18th through the 21st century, including colonial portraits, American landscape painting, and significant examples of American Impressionism. The time span and styles mentioned help distinguish the art on offer from the institutional and medical history themes.

Culture and Music

The Black Archives Museum presents exhibitions on the Underground Railroad, the Middle Passage, desegregation, education, sports, and music. Visitors who want to include a range of historical and cultural topics in their travel plans will find a broad focus here, distinct from the architectural and museum themes of the other sites.

The Coleman Hawkins Jazz Festival takes place on the third weekend of June at Coleman Hawkins Park on Felix Street. The exact dates may vary, so check the schedule if the festival is important to your plans. This makes it easy to distinguish the museums’ and historic sites’ ongoing themes from this time-specific musical event.

When choosing a hotel, you can first organize your trip around the focus you want: nature trails and camping, Pony Express and Jesse James history, architecture, art, or music. This grouping organizes the topics described by subject and helps you plan visits according to your interests.

Explore more destinations: Saint Joseph, Scott County, Greene, Franklin County, Barton County, Monroe County, Polk County, Mississippi County

For the overview of the wider region: Missouri.