Ottawa County Historical Museum 110 South Concord Street Minneapolis, Kansas 67467 (785) 392-3621 Open Tuesday through Saturday 10AM - noon   1 - 5 PM free Minneapolis's Rock City

The Ottawa County Museum in Minneapolis, Kansas was a pleasant surprise. Although it has its fair share of whatever
the people in town wanted to donate, it has a lot more formation about the artifacts than most local historical museums. Many of the artifacts are next to magazine articles or other labels with details of what they were or how they were used.

A large corner of the Ottawa County Museum is filled with exhibits about George Washington Carver, who lived in Minneapolis for several years as a boy. I particularly enjoyed a recording of Carver from shortly before his death. His voice was high pitched, and I would have guessed that it was a woman speaking.

Other exhibits of particular interest include Silvisaurus condrayi, a Kansas dinosaur with many fossils in Ottawa County, and the story of Grace Bedell and the letter she sent to Presidential candidate Abe Lincoln suggesting that he grow a beard.

The curator of the Ottawa County Historical Museum, Jettie Condray, loves Kansas and Ottawa County history and added a lot to my enjoyment of the museum. I wish I could have stayed and talked with him longer.

copyright 2007-2008 by Keith Stokes