John Wornall House Museum 1858

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Wornall Road, one of Kansas City's best known thoroughfares, is named for John Wornall one of the original citizens of Jackson County Missouri. John Wornall served as a State Senator and was one of the founders of William Jewel College. The home was the centerpiece of early Kansas City history when it was used as a field hospital during the Civil War Battle of Westport and your family can take a tour, experiencing life for Kansas City's original citizens.

John Wornall House Museum 1858: 

John Wornall House Museum 61st Terrace & Wornall, Kansas City, MO. 816.444.1858

Admission: $6.00 for adults (13-60), $5.00 for seniors (60+), $5.00 for children (5-12), Free for children under 5

Hours: Tues.-Sat. 10-4, Sun. 1-4

The Touch and Feel Tour  at the Wornall House brings the 1800s to life in a way no other Kansas City museum does. Note: You do not need to call ahead for a tour, but I do recommend calling to make sure staff is on duty to conduct a special Touch and Feel tour for your family if you're bringing young children.

Accessibility Info:  The Museum and Museum Store are not wheelchair (or stroller) accessible due to the historic nature of the home. There are some stairs leading to the front door of the Museum, where tours begin. Once inside, there is a staircase leading to the second floor that is wide and navigable for most people using canes or crutches. The Museum Store is on the second floor.

The Tour:

The Wornall House holds a special place in my heart (I served both as a volunteer and member of the staff for nearly twenty years... it was my home away from home), so it was important to me that the girls realize it wasn't "just an old house," but a lot more. That's when I decided to take the girls on a Touch and Feel Tour.

Our tour began in the formal Parlor where we played the square grand piano and learned about 1800s manners and etiquette... children weren't allowed in the Parlor as it was reserved only for adults, special visitors, and holidays. Speaking of visitors, in the hall the girls learned about "calling cards," a Victorian tradition of bringing a calling card when you came to visit and folding a corner to relay messages to the hostess.

It was in the Sitting Room (equivalent to modern family rooms) where the girls explored the medical bag of a pioneer doctor and learned about "house calls," weighing medicine, original stethoscopes, leaches,amputation, and other equally gruesome things... all reminding me once again just how thankful I am for modern medicine. The Sitting Room was also home to toys, a sewing kit, Godey's Lady's Book and a hunting rifle.

Can you imagine a world where children were to be "seen and not heard"? We learned the rules of mealtime and the luxury of sugar in the Dining Room. Although the Wornall family was wealthy and could afford sugar, they still reserved it for special occasions and kept it under lock and key!

The kitchen was the heart of the home and perhaps the most fun! Mrs. Wornall cooked on an open hearth. On our tour, the girls tried to guess the purpose behind each gadget. The toaster, apple peeler, coffee grinder, cherry pitter, fly catcher, and butter churn were just a few fascinating objects. We were also reminded regularly that pioneer children worked hard, hauling water in to the "dry sink" (dry due to lack of faucet), bringing in wood for the fire (year-round necessity for cooking), cleaning, rolling dough, and sweeping.

We then went upstairs to visit the two bedrooms, one for the children and another for the parents (separate rooms being another luxury enjoyed by the Wornalls). In the children's room, the girls loved the pioneer toys, the trundle bed, the story of "Sleep Tight, Don't let the Bed Bugs Bite," learning about Frozen Charlotte dolls (I'll save the story for you to discover on your tour of the Wornall House), and most of all learning about the one room missing from the house... the bathroom! They smelled tooth powder, felt a pioneer toothbrush, and learned all about personal hygiene... another improvement of modern life that we love.

Special events at the Wornall House are great fun for the family, and Candlelight will always be a tradition in our home, but I strongly recommend taking your family on a private tour for the best one-on-one information, the opportunity to ask questions, and giving children time to really explore and learn without crowds.

After the Museum:

The museum is located in the heart of the Brookside Neighborhood. There are many attractions, restaurants and hotels close to the Musuem. The Brookside Shops, Country Club Plaza, Loose Park and Nelson Atkins Museum of Art are within a few miles.