Have a blast at the newly reopened Rogers Historical Museum!
Ring the train bell. Make a call on the switchboard. Sit in a 3,000-pound concrete chair. You can do all these things and more at The Rogers Historical Museum. The museum first opened in1975, as part of the city’s Bicentennial celebration. The historical museum has changed and moved over the years, and was just reopened! It’s new, it’s fun, it’s a great place to learn some cool stories about Northwest Arkansas.
If you are thinking “history=boring” think again! This place is more like a history amusement park than a museum. Complete with a full size tractor and stagecoach, an old jail cell, the front-end of a train engine, a kid-sized kitchen and lots more. You’ll have the chance to handle real artifacts and replicas. It’s history-play, all the way!
Let’s take a mini-tour through the new museum:
Hailey Building: here you’ll find five brand new galleries that tell the tale of Northwest Arkansas, from covered wagons and log cabins to Beaver Dam and the building of Rogers. Check out the 1951 Ford tractor and lots of cool models and treasures.
Children’s Gallery: here’s where the hands-on fun really happens for kids! Explore Grandma’s House, where you can play in a kid-sized 1950s kitchen. Be a switchboard operator and make a real call to a friend in the other room at the “Telegraph & Telephone Exchange Office.” Slide down the indoor slide or get busy working in Grandpa’s Workshop.
Hawkins House: You can take a tour of this old Victorian house has been restored with early 1900s furniture and all the accessories. It’s as if the Hawkins family still lives there!
Key Wing: here you’ll find more hands-on displays and crazy fun. Dress up in Grandma’s Attic, “cook” at a vintage stove, type on an old typewriter and more. You can also “visit” the three first stores in Rogers, including a barbershop, complete with checkers.
Special programs: Every month there are special events, concerts and happenings at the museum. On Friday, March 8, there’s one you can really dig!
Make sure to visit the new Rogers Historical Museum soon. Learn a little about history and have a lot of fun!
- Did you know that new archeological discoveries are found every day in Arkansas? Arkansas has a long and “deep” (get it??) history of hidden artifacts and treasures. Members and volunteers of the Arkansas Archeological Survey are always uncovering them. Every March the state honors their hard work with Arkansas Archeology Month. As part of this years’ theme, Celebrate Archeology!
Dr. Melissa Zabecki will be at the museum to talk about archeological sites in Arkansas from both the recent and distant past, including the dig at Leetown, the Bluff sites, and much more! Invite your whole family to come by for this program on Friday, March 8, from 6:30-7:30 p.m.