Pony Express Museum, Patee House Museum, Jesse James Home and Glore Psychiatric Museum

 Pony Express Museum

A wonderful find, this museum is stuffed full of implements, maps, life-size images and dioramas of typical scenes of the 1860's frontier town. The story unfolds as you walk through each area. 

It is amazing to me how much the Pony Express is a part of our western lore, yet it was only in operation for 18 mos.

Russell, Majors and Waddell, founders of the Pony Express

Re-creation of the first ride of the Pony Express

St. Joseph Park across from the museum

This steam train is massive!


No trip with Johnnie unless we can explore the local diners. This is a find! We were there for lunch. Not low calorie but tasty!
Down home comfort food!

Located in the more industrial section of town, this was still a good find!

Patee House Museum was originally a hotel in the 1800's. Over the years it became many different things. It's a huge building that now houses an amazing collection of turn of the century artifacts. Different rooms depict typical businesses of the era and even a complete Victorian house. You can come back many times and not see it all. Very nicely done!
Stage Coaches and the Pony Express both followed the trails used by the wagon trains


Johnnie's favorite

Big trains, medium trains and little trains!





Jesse James Home
While you are visiting the Patee House Museum, visit the last home of Jesse James, his wife and two children. 

The life of Jesse James is quite sad

Glore Psychiatric Hospital Museum

Formerly Insane Asylum No. 2, this is a creepy but interesting museum. The history of mental illness and the various "treatments" is something most don't want to think about, and definitely not talk about. There were so many superstitions about it and without any scientific knowledge or tools for diagnoses, it was just trial and error-- mostly experimentation with barbaric and  what we consider cruel techniques.

A Loving Gesture

Topeka friends - read this!


I was visiting with the docents at the museum. We asked ourselves what will people think of our medical treatments 50 or 100 years from now? Will they think we are barbaric? Would they say.....

"They drilled holes in people's teeth and put metal in the holes"

or 

"They cut open their legs, sawed the bones to remove the joints and replaced them with metal ones". 

When you put it that way, fillings and knee replacements sounds pretty barbaric!

For the most part people were trying to help the patients, doing everything they could think of or knew to try. It wasn't until the 1960s that studies of the brain and the different parts played in thought, emotion, intelligence, etc. 



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