Things To Do

28 BLOCKS OF HISTORIC DOWNTOWN SHOPPING

The Leavenworth downtown shopping district is filled with family- and veteran-owned small businesses. Located here are more than 275 restaurants, shops, antique dealers, salons, spas, theaters, museums, parks, pubs, breweries and a boutique winetasting room.

C.W. PARKER CAROUSEL MUSEUM

320 S. Esplanade Street (913) 682-1331 www.firstcitymuseumslhma.com HOURS: 1-5 p.m. Saturday & Sunday COST: Free to browse the gift shop and watch the carousel, small charge for tours and carousel rides This museum is dedicated to telling the remarkable story of Charles Wallace Parker, the “Carnival King.” Visitors ride a restored 1913 carousel made right here in Leavenworth, with wooden, handcarved mounts like show ponies and Kansas jackrabbits, as well as chariot benches for disabled riders.

CARROLL MANSION MUSEUM & LEAVENWORTH COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

1128 5th Avenue (913) 682-7759 www.leavenworthhistory.org HOURS: 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday COST: $6 for adults, free for children under 5 The Carroll Mansion Museum is an 1880s Victorian house that features elaborate handcrafted woodwork, beautiful stained-glass windows and elegant antiques from the Victorian era to the early 20th century. The museum is home to the Leavenworth County Historical Society, formed in the centennial year of the founding of the city of Leavenworth, and serves as an archive and research center of early Kansas history. A 30,000-piece glass negative collection features images of early settlement days taken by Leavenworth’s pioneer photographers.

FIRST CITY MUSEUM

743 Delaware Street (913) 682-1866 www.firstcitymuseumslhma.com The First City Museum houses artifacts from Leavenworth’s frontier railroad and early manufacturing industries, including buggies, Great Western stoves, even a large bank safe where Buffalo Bill Cody’s father stored his gold dust. The museum also features prison-related memorabilia and extensive displays of Western Union Telegraph Morse code equipment. Contact the museum directly for hours and admission fee information.

HISTORICAL WAYSIDE TOUR

Cherokee and Esplanade Streets (913) 745-3222 www.visitleavenworthks.com Explore “Where the West Began” with our Wayside interactive display kiosks, featuring unique artwork and narration highlighting significant historical figures and events. Thirteen downtown Waysides can be experienced as a walking tour, while an additional seven Waysides serve as a driving tour. From the Star of the West Saloon to a stop on the Underground Railroad, we know you will be captivated by Leavenworth’s abundant history.

HISTORY 101 5K WALKING TRAIL

7th and Cherokee Streets Start this self-guided walk at Haymarket Square, then travel east along Cherokee Street toward the Missouri River and points beyond. Walkers can scout for more than 130 History 101 signs posted in the windows of businesses along the route.

KANSAS SCENIC BYWAYS

Ray Miller Park, 4103 S. 4th Street 1) Glacial Hills Byway The Glacial Hills Scenic Byway gets its name from the rolling hills and rock-strewn valleys carved by ancient glaciers. The receding ice left behind a beautiful landscape and highly fertile farmland. It extends 63 miles north through the Glacial Hills of northeast Kansas. It traverses Leavenworth, Atchison, and Doniphan Counties. The route takes you to the communities of Atchison, Leavenworth, Troy and White Cloud.

2) Frontier Military Byway The Frontier Military Scenic Byway extends along the eastern edge of Kansas roughly 167 miles, tying Fort Leavenworth to the north with Fort Scott in the south and then onward to the Oklahoma border. It follows K-5 out of Leavenworth to I-435, then follows U.S. 69 to the state line. The route approximates the old military trail used by the Army to transport troops and supplies between the frontier forts.

LEAVENWORTH LANDING PARK & THREE MILE CREEK TRAIL

301 S. Esplanade Street (913) 651-2203 HOURS: 6 a.m.-10 p.m. daily Leavenworth Landing Park is a beautiful quarter-mile stretch along the Missouri River. This is also the entrance to Three Mile Creek Trail, which connects Leavenworth Landing to the walkway to 7th Street in historic downtown.

LEAVENWORTH NATIONAL CEMETERY

150 Muncie Road (913) 727-1376 www.cem.va.gov HOURS: Dawn to dusk daily Leavenworth National Cemetery is the final resting place for more than 18,000 soldiers, with internments dating to the American Indian Wars. Noteworthy burials include six Medal of Honor recipients and the remains of 12 Native Americans discovered during a construction project and re-interred in the National Cemetery.

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LEWIS AND CLARK SIGNAGE

1201 Riverfront Park Road Thomas Jefferson tasked the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery Expedition with exploring the western frontier between 1804 and 1806. Leavenworth’s location on the banks of the Missouri River brought the Expedition through the area in July of 1804.

NATIONAL FRED HARVEY MUSEUM

624 Olive Street (913) 682-6304 www.firstcitymuseumslhma.com HOURS: Tours by appointment Fred Harvey is thought to have created America’s first restaurant chain with his Harvey House venues, built in the late 1800s to feed legions of hungry railroad travelers. He’s especially remembered for his Harvey Girls, young women who “brightened the Harvey House restaurants with cheerfulness and impeccable service” and were glamorized in a 1946 movie starring Judy Garland and Angela Lansbury. This home was built in 1869 and purchased by Harvey in 1883, and it remained in his family until 1943.

NATIONAL VOTES FOR WOMEN TRAIL MARKER

N. Esplanade and Kickapoo Streets This is Kansas’ first marker on the National Votes for Women Trail, which honors Daniel Read and Annie Anthony and the multiple times the couple hosted Daniel’s sister, Susan B. Anthony, in Leavenworth during her years-long campaign for women’s suffrage.

Avisit to the “First City” can be a trip through time. Follow in the footsteps of trailblazers like Lewis and Clark, Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony and the “Buffalo Soldiers” of the U.S. Army’s 9th and 10th Cavalries.

RICHARD ALLEN CULTURAL CENTER AND MUSEUM

412 Kiowa Street (913) 682-8772 www.raccm.org and www.tkaahistorytrail.org HOURS: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. MondayThursday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday, Saturday by appointment COST: Suggested donation is $5 per person The Richard Allen Cultural Center and Museum honors Leavenworth’s African American history. Visitors tour the former home of U.S. Army Captain William Bly, a veteran of World War I, and see objects recovered from the historic Bethel A.M.E. Church, once a stop on the Underground Railroad. The center also houses memorabilia donated by General Colin Powell, a former Secretary of State and Fort Leavenworth resident; remembrances of Cathay Williams, the only known female Buffalo Soldier; and the Black Dignity Portrait Collection, with photos captured between the 1890s and 1940s. Inquire about a guided tour of Fort Leavenworth’s Buffalo Soldier Monument that includes a visit with a historical re-enactor.