My Corner Online
St. Joseph, Missouri; Pony Express National Museum, Patee Hotel, Jesse James Home
We visited the museum on December 20, 2024, as I wanted to go to the same place my Grandpa had visited. I am not usually a museum visitor, but this museum had more things in it than we could have ever saw in one day, although we tried. It is run by the Pony Express Historical Society.
June 16, 1990
This video was created by my Grandpa and his second wife, Mary, at the start of their journey out west. Those videos out west are on this page. The Pony Express National Museum is located at 914 Penn St, St Joseph, Buchanan County, Missouri. The Jesse James Home Museum is located nearby at 1201 S 12th St, St Joseph, Missouri.
These photos were taken December 20, 2024. We were unable to enter from the back side and never did get to go into the Jesse James Home, but we did learn a lot about it in the museum. The Jessie James home is behind the museum, but it was not open when we were there. It is owned by the Historical Society. It's original location was a block or so away from the river, but another entity bought it and moved it out by the highway where the business was unsuccessful. Thereafter the Historical Society bought it and moved it to its present location, and also bought the original ground where it stood and put a monument there.
This entrance was closed and we almost left. I am glad I turned the truck back and went to the front of the building to see what was there on the other street.
The Patee Hotel which houses the museum has quite the history, as can be seen in the above video. Jesse James's family stayed here after his murder while there was an investigation going on. Lots of famous people in history stayed here too. The Pony Express was operated and the route began here, traveling to Sacramento, California, for only 18 months in 1861.
I enjoyed looking at this Central Overland Express. I had to laugh because now there is a hobby called "overlanding" and the Pony Express was the original overlanders! We call ourselves "oldlanders." I spent a while at the display to the right in this image and it was a great starting point to really learn and ask questions about the building we were standing in and the Pony Express.
The first part of the museum we visited was various rooms set up like the original St. Joseph, Missouri. Each room represented a different business that would have been present at the time in different buildings in the city. Someone really took a lot of time to create this museum! This model city was only the beginning of the tour as it kept going on and on and on.
We reached the train station part of the museum and it actually had a real train inside the building!
We were able to step into this room on the train and read the history.
We actually loved this room with small riding toys and model trains and such because we could identify with some of the things from our own childhood.
Look! They even fit whole fire trucks in this museum! Every turn of a corner is a big surprise in this museum.
Look! There is even a whole carousel in this building! This was originally owned by Bruce White who began Applebee's Restaurants. The carousel is called "Wild Thing." Bruce White created all of the animal rides on this 1941 vintage amusement ride.
Then there was a huge ballroom which was original to the hotel and I could imagine dancing away back in the day. Can you imagine the history in this room?
To get up and down to the preserved hotel section of the museum are these fabulous stair cases.
This is the hallway of the hotel part of the museum.
There are sample rooms in the hotel.
The museum just kept going on and on! One could spend a whole day here, but we did not have a whole day and could not look closely enough at every little thing.
We found this room at the end and there were a row of photos and information about famous people that continued on around the corner and onto the other side of the room. There is no way to absorb all that is here in a few hours, so if you visit, give yourselves plenty of time.