Coronado Quivira Museum 105 West Lyon Street Lyons, Kansas 67554 (620) 257-3941 Tuesday through Saturday: 9AM to 5PM Adults $3.00    Children 5-12 $2.00 Rice County Residents Free Coronado Quivira Museum Map

Coronado Quivira Museum - Lyons, Kansas

The Coronado Quivira Museum in Lyons, Kansas is a very nice little museum with well designed and labeled exhibits. The museum is operated by the Rice County Historical society, which began collecting artifacts in 1927. 

The museum has excellent displays devoted to Coronado's expedition and from the Quivira and other Native Americans who made Rice County home. Other exhibits include locally made or used tools, medical technologies and other general historical collections, clothing and textiles, photographs, and an extensive archival collection of books, scrapbooks, correspondence and other records.  I was particularly interested in the exhibits related to early Native American culture in Kansas.

The Coronado Quivira Museum offers two unique tours of Rive County historic sites from mid May to mid October. The Prehistoric Sites Tour
offers an personal look at Native American petroglyphs, council circles, and the Serpent Intaglio. The Santa Fe Trail Tour is available as a 1/2 or full tour. The eastern half includes stops at Little Arkansas Crossing, Chavez Murder site, and Atlanta Township site. The western half includes stops at Father Padilla's Cross, Buffalo Bill's Well, Cow Creek Crossing, Ralph's Ruts and Gunsight Notch. The cost is $10 per vehicle for the Prehistoric or 1/2 Santa Fe Trail tours or $20 for a full Santa Fe Trail tour. They must be booked at least 48 hours in advance, but I recommend booking as early as possible.

copyright 2012 by Keith Stokes