Exhibits
The IHMAC Museum is located on the Mezzanine and Lower Levels of the building. Both floors are accessible by elevator from the Main Floor. The DAR and Baseball rooms are located off the Gallery. All exhibits are walk-in spaces.
Baseball Room
As seen in this photo, the significance of Independence baseball history is recognized by the Smithsonian. Visit the Baseball Room to discover more, including Mickey Mantle as an Independence Yankee.
Able-Space Monkey
Able was born in Independence, Kansas, she flew inside a Jupiter nose cone with Baker, a female squirrel monkey on May 28, 1959, in an Army experiment designed to test the biomedical effects of space travel.
Parlor
Experience the elegance of a parlor from an era where Independence enjoyed the wealth of the oil boom. The parlor is complete with furnishing from homes of prominent Independence citizens. Ask your docent to show you a 3-D video on the stereoscope.
School Room
One-room schools dotted the prairies into the 1950’s. This school room conveys the intimacy and familial environment common to the one-room school. Children recited the “Pledge of Allegiance” and “Lords Prayer” together, recessed together, and drank from the same water pail.
Bedroom
The bedroom is adorned with baptismal gowns and handmade quilts from a time when “handmade” was a necessity rather than an option. The room is furnished with items from h0mes of early prominent Independence citizens for early 1900.
Sycamore Valley Cabin
Typical late 19th Century prairie home built in 1869. The cabin resembles the “Little House on the Prairie.” It was dismantled and reassembled in the IHMAC Museum in 1999. Read the original letter of the family’s encounter with the Osage Indians before walking through the cabin.
Kitchen
Before you cook you’ll have to go out and get the wood for the cook stove and if you live in town you can have ice delivered to the house for you “ice” box. These and other early 1900’s kitchen amenities can bee seen in this exhibit. Don’t miss the Hoosier Oak cooking cab designed to supply you with all your baking needs in one location.
Country Store
Country stores from long ago were more than just a place to shop. Some were gathering places for local citizens, and many were filled with locally manufactured goods. Visit this room to see what a trip to the local store was once like. Product selection was limited!