Plan YOUR
Visit

The Leo. B. Stuhr Building, also known as the “Gem of the Prairie”, was designed by world-renowned architect Edward Durrell Stone. It is considered one of the most important pieces of architecture between Lincoln and Denver and features the Prairie Treasures Gift Shop, informative historic exhibits, and rotating art exhibits. Click here for our current and upcoming exhibits.
Estimated time: 1 Hour

Stuhr Building

The striking Gus Fonner Memorial Rotunda was built in the design of a wagon wheel, with each “spoke” being a themed display of historic artifacts. The late Gus Fonner (1873-1959) was an avid collector of Native American artifacts and old west memorabilia and this building is home to many of those items, as well as “The Arrow Maker”, a stunning sculpture with an interesting history of how it came to be a part of the Stuhr Museum collection. And also be sure you say “hi” to Jock, our life-size wooden horse, while visiting the Rotunda!
Estimated time: 40 minutes

Perhaps one of the most special areas of Stuhr Museum is tucked away from modern highways and is truly a step back in time. From spring through fall each year, Railroad Town is bustling with activity as our interpreters live, work and interact with visitors as if it’s the 1890s. You can tour historic homes and businesses, take part in various activities, grab a bite to eat at the Silver Dollar Cafe, shop for souvenirs at the General Mercantile Emporium, and more!

During the winter, the buildings in Railroad Town are only open for special programming, however, visitors are more than welcome to take a walking tour of the town at their own pace. A parking lot is located right by the town for your convenience but no driving is allowed inside the perimeter of the town. For information about programming during the winter, check out our events calendar.
Estimated time: 2 hours in the summer/45 minutes in the winter

Railroad Town

One of the nation’s most comprehensive collections of farm machinery can be found in the STEAM Learning Center at Stuhr Museum! This building, located in the northeast corner of our grounds, features not only a large collection of huge steam-powered tractors to antique automobiles but is also home to a newly renovated STEAM-based learning activity center.

STEAM activities help kids (and adults!) learn about science, technology, engineering, art, and math. The best part about our STEAM activities? They’re cleverly disguised as games and play so kids can connect with the ideas that helped create the technologies that built America, and they’ll have fun doing it!
Estimated time – 1 hour

STEAM LEarning Center

While we talk a lot about the artifacts on exhibit and the buildings that contain them, we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out the beauty in the outdoors at Stuhr Museum. We encourage you to take the walking trail through the charming Hornady Family Arbor as you travel between the Stuhr Building and Railroad Town. Smaller paths branch off from the main path with hidden gems for you to discover.

We also have areas that aren’t open to the public on a daily basis but are worth a visit to see anyway. The exteriors of the rural farm, Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Pawnee Earth Lodge, Log Cabin Road Ranche, and more are just waiting to be seen!
Estimated time: 45 minutes

New for summer 2022, highlight tours are available on Mondays-Fridays at 11:00 a.m. when you visit Stuhr Museum. Highlight tours will feature a location, story, artifact, or activity that isn’t always available to visitors. The specific topic will vary day by day and tours will last approximately 20-30 minutes. Highlight tours are free with your daily admission unless otherwise noted. Check out our events page to see what we’ll be talking about!