Patee House Museum

  A lot has happened in the  Patee House which was built in 1858 as a luxury hotel. The short-lived Pony Express established it’s headquarters on the first floor in 1860. Over the next 26 years the building served as a courtroom during the Civil War, housed the Patee Female College, became a hotel again, housed St. Joseph Female College, became a hotel once again, and finally was converted to the R.L. McDonald shirt factory in 1886. The factory closed in the late 1950s. The building was scheduled for demolition but fortunately was saved by the Pony Express Historical Association which owns and operates the museum today.

   The museum occupies three floors and is filled to the brim with artifacts and exhibits. There’s a stagecoach, wagons, cars, a complete train, a city street is lined with shops, a 1050 pound ball of twine, a carousel, a Pony Express office, and many interesting articles to read. The original hotel rooms on the third floor are furnished as they would have been during different periods and include the rooms of Henry Corbett, a night watchmen at the shirt factory, who died in 1897 when he tumbled over the third floor banister.

 

 

    

 

  The museum is accessible. An elevator accesses the second and third floors. The ramps between levels on the first floor are dangerously steep. Certain types of walkers are not permitted, possibly because of the ramps. A loaner wheelchair is available.

      RVs can be parked on the street in front of the museum. Museum  39.75582, -94.84545