This 1880s Victorian house features elaborate handcrafted woodwork, beautiful stained glass windows and elegant antiques from the Victorian era to the early 20th century.  The Carroll Mansion also is a research center for early Kansas history that includes 30,000 glass plate negatives taken by pioneer photographers. The museum is home to the Leavenworth County Historical Society, formed in the centennial year of the founding of the city. Guided tours are available. A $10 admission is charged. 

The Leavenworth County Historical Society, founded in 1954, Leavenworth's centennial year, owns and operates the Carroll Mansion and Museum, which is listed on the National Registry of Historic Properties and the oldest museum in Leavenworth County. Today, the Leavenworth County Historical Society boasts a membership of more than 300 people and businesses. The Museum is open over 270 days a year, and has an annual visitation of 6,500 visitors from around the world. 

Soon after the Kansas-Nebraska Act was signed in 1854, Leavenworth became the first city of Kansas. Leavenworth continued growing through the latter years of the 1800s, and between the 1880s and 1980s was the most important manufacturing city in Kansas and one of the largest in the entire United States, boasting 67 prosperous and growing industries.  

​The thought of forming a historical society came during the planning of Leavenworth's Centennial Celebration in 1954, when interested citizens realized the rapid destruction of significant Leavenworth landmarks. It was actually the Kiwanis Club, then headed by James Fussell, that helped promote the idea. In the fall of 1954, they announced their sponsorship of a historic essay contest in order to motivate the public interest in the organization of the Leavenworth Historic Society. Formed in December 1954 with a mission to collect, preserve and share the rich history of Leavenworth County, Miss Ella Carroll was a charter member of the society, who then donated her Victorian home in 1964 for a museum.