This is the best place to know the history of Go West .

Considering the volume of information available on the trails, this museum does an amazing job of making trail history accessible. Big, colorful displays, first personal accounts, and interactive exhibits guide you through the experience of being on the trail. The gift store is fun, too. Im currently recommending this museum a lot.

I took a quick trip there right before closing so I didnt get to watch the video but they were nice enough to give me a return pass so I could check it out. They had a lot of information and some great interactive displays for kids. Gift shop was great too!

A fun place to visit. I found some very interesting information there that I had never known before. The grounds were beautiful, the gift shop had some fun items, and the museum was very quiet and peaceful.

Pretty fun lil museum. Cool history about Independence. And the Journey West.

A wonderful place to learn and spend time with people but the staffs is not friendly.

Such a fun museum to explore the pioneer spirit. We were very impressed. Lots to see and interactive things to do.

Great museum and artifacts! We attended the Family Fun Day and were able to experience so much about frontier life!

In late April, while on a long road trip, my wife planned a stop in Independence to take in the Truman history. During her research (the amazing technology of smart phones and Google while on the road) she came across the National Frontier Trails Museum. The museum is very interesting covering the pioneers heading to great unknown West. Studying the maps we discovered our planned trip entailed following a good portion of the Santa Fe Trail. A very nice exhibit of Frontier exploration and lifestyle.

Great tour around Independence and terrific information I never knew Great knowledge

Wonderful place! My children and I loved it and will go back. We rode the carriage from the Square to the museum and loved every second! Independence has a rich history and there is so much to learn.

They had a lot of good information, but not many artifacts. We were very glad we didnt have our young (preschool) children with us... that would have been a disaster. They did have a small area for children to play at, but the museum wouldnt have held their attention at all.

Great information about life and times in the 1840s travel to the West from Independence, MO.

Nice surprise. Informative. Never heard of it.

We spent 2 1/2 hours enjoying the museum . I really liked reading all the primary source quotes and accounts of those who traveled the trails and their experiences. If youre near Independence, MO its worth a visit.

Really well curated museum, for the size. There is an excellent flow to the collection and exhibits and it provides more information than you would expect. There are excellent exhibits for both adults and children.I would imagine it gets a bit crowded during the peak season, but we almost had the place to ourselves during our visit in February.

The FTM is an excellent to go to for those who want to learn about life on the trail as knowledge as versus just being entertained. This involves a fair amount of reading after the introductory movie. The collection of articacts are worth the price of admission and can serve to keep children interested. I personally enjoyed the scope and depth of finer points of trail life that sometimes determined the difference between life and death. Also know that there is an interesting Depot next door that is worthwhile, too.

Nice place to begin trip on trails. Great art work and nice exhibits. Good for all ages.

Wonderful museum! Loved learning about the history. Takes an hour or so to go through reading everything, its not large but full of content. Wonderful gift shop with further reading, journals from people who went on the trail, and fun stuff for kids. Got some cow pies to take home to give to family and some homemade soap. Highly recommend.

Was a part of a group of 5 today and after we purchased tickets we were told the movie was not available because of an event.This was a big disappointment and should have bee shared prior to ticket purchase and also should have been posted on web.The rest of Museum was informative.

It was very interesting! An my 10 year old daughter had fun loading her wagon! We learned alot of fun things.

My husband and I visited on day when they were hosting some type special lecture (which you to pay extra foe if you wanted to attend) and so were unable to see the film they normally run in that auditorium, thus we paid full price to see a very small museum. For that alone I am very disappointed with this site. I’m going to guess that half the learning experience was with that movie we missed. I am not a fan of reading sign after sign after sign after sign....in any exhibit anywhere. I thought the items they did have on display were interesting and likely more fun for children. Also I was very put off with the folks dressed in period costume and speaking to you as if it were whatever year they were pretending to be from. It was difficult to understand the history they were trying to relate when I only have terms and names for today’s rivers, cites etc. it was very frustrating and was immediately turned off from this whole experience.If this is your thing go and you will likely enjoy this place, if it’s not your scene, don’t waste your time.I will say that the old train depot next door Is awesome. It is definitely 5 stars. I don’t think it’s part of this museum, as the depot has no fee to enter but they will accept donations, and it’s definitely well worth your time and donation. It was interesting and fun to go thru with a great guide who was very versed in his history. He wasn’t one of the people dressed on period clothes and didn’t talk to you like it was 1879, so you could actually understand what he was telling you.

Very nice and educational for adults and children.

Excellent example of actual 1879 railroad building. Lots of actual railroad memorabilia. Wonderful place for all ages !

Lots of information displayed with colorful art and old photos. The film on the website was not being shown, and the interactive materials needed repairs. The two board books about why people took the trails west, for example, had pages that were hard to turn.

Buffalo Bob the tour guide was amazing and so knowledgeable about the trails.

Great place for an school field trip.

Peaceful and clean

Nicely done exhibits with excerpts from real pioneer diaries, journals, and letters. Many stories are illustrated with period artifacts as well. The tour guides do a wonderful job with children. You get a real appreciation of frontier life in the 1800s and how hard it was to survive.

Very interesting place worth a go see.

We had so much fun here we got to see bulls

We experienced history by reading letters from historical people traveling across the US by wagons & on horses. We even tried to load a Conestoga wagon

Great place to see how our ancestors lived, traveled and thoughts on the day to day living during these times! And all available for searchers for books or papers to be written. Basically a great place to see, do and have fun by the knowledgeable staff

It was pretty small, but the information in it was interesting. They even had a kids activity room at the end, which mad it worthwhile for ours.

Needs to update a bit more. Still good.

It was a lot of fun we saw all kinds of stuff.

My wife wanted to stop at one of the start points of the Oregon trail since will be in Oregon in the spring to visit family where well visit a museum at the end of the Oregon trail.Learning more if the history through diary entries from done if the people who made the trek by covered wagon was very interesting. While schoolbooks mentioned the hardships of the journey but reading the diary entries have a much deeper understanding of what people went through to make a new life out West.

Enjoyed learning more about the trails and Bingham-Waggoner estate in todays field trip!

I loved being able to learn more about this nations history.

Very, very educational and interesting!! I think every school should send their students here to learn the hardships of the pioneers.

Kiddos went on a field trip here. They loved it amd said they had a really good time.

Maybe better for kids but I loved Oregon trail as a kid so I had to come here

#LetsGuide Family Friendly I would bring older kids that can read the journals. There is a lot of information about life on the Santa Fe, California, and Oregon trails. Independence was the last stop before the trails split up.

This is a nice little museum about the history of the trails in Independence (they cover the big three--Oregon, California, and Santa Fe--but also Lewis and Clark, etc). Easy to get through, including with kids. Good gift shop!

Fantastic gem. I like that fact that it represents personal histories not just displays, which are great too! You can walk into some of them and it feels like you area really there. Great for all ages and at $6, very affordable for all. A nice walk from Silver Heart Inn.

Awesome place

Great museum! Cool to learn about the different trails West and how they survived them.

So much history, and shared in such a relatable way. Fantastic displays, covering the Santa Fe, Oregon and California Trails. Very interactive, great for getting kids interested.

So many little gems in this museum. Fascinating look at American Westward Migration. Re enactors every weekend of the summer. Free concert on Sundays.

Great information including personal accounts from pioneers! Learn about the Santa Fe trail, the Oregon Trail, and California and Mormon Trail. Two real covered wagons! Very educational and fun. Terrific gift shop!

Very informative and enjoyable. It makes you really appreciate what the earlier settlers went through.

Interesting collection of the settlers moving out west.

Very interesting place to visit. Ran out of time but no problem I was given a pass to return. Very nice employees.

Family loved it. Fun trinkets, the covered wagon ride was great too. Even in the rain!

Its ok... It needs more compelling exhibits and creative work done there. It wasnt on the same level as the nearby Wilson presidential museum.

Very nice staff. Clean restrooms. Interesting exhibits.

One of the best historical sites in Independence, short walk from the parking lot, air conditioned building, sweet gift shop and places to sit and rest. Great value!

Love it! Learned alot well worth going to see would recommend it!! Alot of History !!

This was our first time visiting. It was 15.00 for me and three kids, not bad. The gift shop is fabulous! My kids loved all the unique items. My younger son purchased a rabbit pelt which he absolutely adores ($14). My daughter got a beaded Indian bracelet for $5 and my oldest son picked up a couple cool necklaces for a total of $7. There are so many unique little treasures.As for the museum, the 17 minute video is cool. My kids liked it. It didnt bother them that it was a 70s film. Its shown in a large room that has a beautiful painted map and a life size covered wagon.I suggest watching the video first then going through the museum.Tons of artifacts, some original some replicas. All are fun to look at. One thing I really enjoyed was the general store where it listed pricing of that time for supplies. From livestock to coffee- very interesting.At the end is a small wagon that the kids get to load and unload with all the supplies...bags of beans, coffee grinder, tin plates, cups etc. We talked about which items would be the most important and which we could leave behind.Overall, I definitely recommend this little jewel of American history.

Very interesting place to learn and see amazing things! We really enjoyed it!

Entertaining, and factual look back to life on the Oregon. Santa Fe, and California trails to the West.

The information is very educational about the Santa Fe and Oregon trails but very low tech.

The kids loved it. Especially loading the wagon and dressing up. Small place.

Loved our tour and losts of nice shopps to visit as well as good restaurants.

Took the family there for an afternoon outing. Staff was very friendly and let us come and go from the museum. There was enough to keep the kids interested for a little over an hour (ages 4 and 8), but the video was very dated and did not hold their interest. We took a wagon ride from the museum to the north side of the square where we stopped and got ice cream at Clintons.

Very interesting for all ages!

In a sadly bad neighborhood. Small museum, good info and exhibit but probably wont entertain kids for long.

Neat place to visit

I was somewhat disappointed. From the website, it sounded much bigger than it actually was, but it was still fun and full of lots of information.

This place has so much to look at and you never get bored.

This is a very important museum as Independence, Missouri was the last point of di debarcation to the vast west after St. Louis. Great museum and great film. Definitely worth the time.

Great place to visit

A great museum with a nice 70s Oregon Trail documentary but quite overpriced. The place is a bit run down, but if you like museums its definitely worth a peek.

Fascinating journey through the eyes of the pioneers who settled the West. Comprehensive and interesting historical chronicle.

Very interesting. Learned a lot about how Independence was a launching point for the pioneers trek westward.

A reclaimed flour mill, the Trails museum is a must for adventurers young and old. Imagine yourself heading West from Independence, the last civilized stop before Indian territory. Lots of great info, books and nice giftshop.

Its a good place too learn alot about Independence history. The Bingham Waggoner home is also a interesting tour.

Very cool place and worth the money. Great overall experience.

We loved it.

Ok for 20 minutes .. kids area didnt work

Very interesting! Loved reading from original diaries.

Interesting museum, video could use some updating

Very informative, great experience.

Great experience!

My wife spent 2 hours in the museum

It was so much fun and wheelchair accessible.

Love it. Fun, good history, kids had a bast

Fascinating self guided tour.

Very educational worth the price to enter.

Top-notch museum and gift shop

Fun museum

Fun place to visit!

Great tourist place

Great place for family and history

Really neat.

Fun

It was okay.

Interesting

It was a very nice from the past loved it

Very informative