South Central Region

Kansas Oil Museum and Hall of Fame - The Kansas Oil Museum is the leading museum dedicated to the discovery and development of the oil industry in the state of Kansas. The museum celebrates the excitement associated with the development from the year 1860 to the present with particular emphasis on the El Dorado Field and its early history.

Coutts Memorial Museum of Art - The Coutts Memorial Museum of Art is a fine art gallery with over a thousand art objects by such artists as Renoir, Thomas Hart Benton, Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell.

Dyck Arboretum of the Plains - The Dyck Arboretum, a prairie garden, exists to educate people about the benefits of appreciating, preserving and utilizing native and adaptable plants. Trees, shrubs, grasses, and flowering perennials and annuals, native to Kansas are emphasized; also included are horticultural plants that are adaptable to the South Central Kansas environment.

Stockade Museum - The Stockade Museum in Medicine Lodge, Kansas is enclosed by a replica of an 1874 frontier stockade. Photographs, tools, documents, clothing and other artifacts present the history of Medicine Lodge and the surrounding area. Outside the stockade is Carry Nation's house. This woman's saloon smashing behavior brought her international fame and made her a part of Kansas history.

Kauffman Museum - Kauffman Museum is a tallgrass prairie reconstruction with over 15 species of grasses and more than 100 wildflower species. The museum is a historic farmstead with heritage flower and vegetable gardens around the 1875 Voth-Unruh-Fast House and the 1886 Ratzlaff Barn. Educational programming for the whole family and guided tours are also available.

Reno County Museum - Opened in 1986, the Museum houses five interpretive exhibit galleries with exhibits that change regularly, two hands-on children's galleries, a research library, an 1870s claim house, and gift shop.

Wichita Art Museum - The Wichita Art Museum is home to a nationally-renowned permanent collection of American art. It is a collection that is especially strong in art from 1900 to 1950. The Museum also offers a variety of programs, activities and events throughout the year.

Great Plains Nature Center - The Great Plains Nature Center (GPNC) is a new nature education facility located in northeast Wichita, Kansas. The Center provides opportunities to the public to learn about natural resources, especially the wildlife and plant species, of the Great Plains Region.

Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center - World-class space museum featuring the largest collection of U.S. space artifacts outside of the National Air and Space Museum and the largest collection of Russian space artifacts outside of Moscow. The Cosmosphere's collections include the actual Apollo 13 command module 'Odyssey,' a flown Russian Vostok spacecraft, an SR-71 Blackbird and Chuck Yeager's flight jacket.

The Kansas Underground Salt Museum - The Kansas Underground Salt Museum will encompass more than 100,000 square feet of awe-inspiring space below ground. An above-ground Visitor Center will provide orientation and training for the subterranean experience, and guides will be on hand to assist guests through the facility.

Kansas Coliseum - The Kansas Coliseum is a showplace for South Central Kansas for concerts, shows and sporting events.

Ulrich Museum of Art - Since its founding in 1974, the museum has served as Wichita's premier venue for contemporary works by established and emerging artists of national and international significance. A lively schedule of provocative and challenging exhibitions is complemented by an important collection of 0th-century painting, sculpture, works on paper, and photography, as well as works by more contemporary, 21st-century artists. The museum also is known for its 70-piece outdoor sculpture collection.

Exploration Place - Four hands-on exhibit areas about flight; health and human life; people, places and environments of Kansas; and imaginative spaces for children. Plus three interactive theaters: Simulation Center – theater seats move with action on 17’ x 25’ screen; CyberDome Theater – take part in show using keypad mounted in theater seat armrest; Presentation Theater –  encounter new ways of thinking during original, live performances.

Marion Historical Museum - The museum displays a wide variety of artifacts, keepsakes and memorabilia that tell the story of this area. The first families who settled in Marion Centre were the Billings, Griffith, and Schreves. 23 people came in 5 covered wagons in 1860 to establish homes on this frontier. Pictures, Bibles, and family keepsakes from these courageous folk are featured collections.

Great Plains Transportation Museum - The GPTM displays a wide assortment of railroad equipment. Cabooses of the CB&Q, Missouri Pacific, Union Pacific and former Santa Fe can be toured during museum operating hours.

Kansas Aviation Museum - As museums are the life, the culture and the history of a community and its people, the Kansas Aviation Museum is a unique repository of our state's aviation heritage.

Lake Afton Observatory - The Lake Afton Public Observatory offers programs for the general public on weekend evenings throughout the year. The observatory offers a variety of exhibits and displays. You can make your own telescope, travel through the solar system on a scavenger hunt, or explore the properties of light. At other exhibits, you can see the universe in 3-D or touch a rock from space.

Kingman County Museum - The Kingman County Historical Museum is housed in the old Kingman City Building. The building is a rectangular two-story Renaissance style structure. There are two fire trucks on display, along with a hand drawn hose cart in the room that originally housed the horses for the Hook and Ladder Fire Department. Other displays consist of period furniture and a large mural.

Old Cowtown Museum - Old Cowtown Museum is a unique, 17 acre open-air living history museum which recreates Wichita and Sedgwick County, Kansas from 1865 to 1880.

Omnisphere & Science Center - The Omnisphere was founded in 1975 and is housed in the old Carnegie Library building that was built in 1915. The facility started with a planetarium and has evolved over the years to include hands-on science exhibits and live science demonstrations. This is a facility that encompasses a mix of education and entertainment for the whole family.  220 S. Main, Wichita.  (316) 337-9174.

Botanica-The Wichita Gardens - Enjoy themed gardens such as the Butterfly Garden, Shakespeare Garden, Rose and Wildflower Garden and the new Sensory Garden. Visit Botanica's Butterfly House and stroll among hundreds of free-flight butterflies.