Arabia Steam Boat Museum

A time capsule of life on the American frontier

What makes it fun

When the mighty Steamboat Arabia sank near Kansas City on September 5, 1856, it was like losing a piece of history. But thanks to the efforts of modern-day treasure hunters, the boat and its 200 tons of mystery cargo were finally found in 1988. The artifacts are now preserved and displayed at the Arabia Steamboat Museum, where they continue to captivate visitors of all ages.

Google Reviews

Arabia Steamboat Museum

4.7

Based on 3173 reviews

pal

09:43 03 Sep 24

A must see when in Kansas City. Starts a little slow watching a few videos about finding the Arabia and excavating it but they are very interesting. Those videos are a perfect setup to entering the displays which are unbelievable when first walking into them. Museum is very well laid out with lots to see. I the full scale layout of the main deck with the actual boilers, steam engine and paddle wheel with all the actual part pulled from the excavation. I learned a lot.

Geo Dez (GMC)

14:04 02 Sep 24

Carol Senato

13:19 01 Sep 24

Amazing place to visit

Craig Brooks

04:48 01 Sep 24

City Market is a Kansas City staple!

Carol Motske

20:30 30 Aug 24

Excellent to learn about our history of where the steamboat came from and all its artifacts on board. Interesting conservationists to explain restoration of clothing and hardware used in late 1800s

Carol H

18:14 13 Sep 23

I am a long-time fan of the Arabia Steamboat Museum and have visited multiple times. It's my favorite place to take out-of-town guests. As a totally unique representation of life and materials from the 1850s, I count it as a not-to-be-missed attraction.

This last visit, though, we met a young lady who is simply exemplary. Holly, who is a docent/staff member working in textiles reclamation at the museum, was absolutely STELLAR in talking with us about the fabrics the museum has been able to restore, and the methods they use to do so. I'm very interested in textiles, and I found her information absolutely fascintating! I know she's extremely busy, as are all the museum personnel, in working on the reclamation still to be done, but she took the time to talk with us and answer all our questions thoroughly. She was friendly and genuinely happy about our interest in the fabrics, and showed us several samples she was currently working on.

I heard she is planning a workshop in November about textiles reclamation/restoration, and I can't wait to attend!

The Arabia Steamboat Museum continues to be a star in the cultural constellation of our metro area, and I'm so happy to support it! Thanks to everyone on staff for such a wonderful place to visit and learn!

Laura Sabev

16:35 11 Sep 23

Great experience! Highly recommend

Brian Fry

11:51 10 Sep 22

I can not say enough about this place. From the moment we walked in it was obvious where to go to get our will-call tickets. They told us where to go after picking them up. When we got there someone showed us to our table because we had never been there and the place is very large. Our name was on the table with the name of our server. They had the play bill and menu there as well as the table settings. Our server was there quickly to explain how the night would proceed. She(I believe Katy was her name) was very personable and took time to answer any and all questions. She kept our drinks full and table clear of used dishes. The buffet food WAS AMAZING!!! And we thoroughly enjoyed the show (Freaky Friday)
I strongly recommend this place. It was worth more than we payed and plan on coming back. It is a 4 hour drive here so that says a lot!!
I recommend getting there 30 minutes prior to the buffet opening as they begin seating at that time.

Amiel Dejnozka

20:41 25 Jun 22

Absolutely amazing collection! What a lot of work restoring all the items that went down with the ship. A true glimpse of the past way of life. Met Dave who actually found the ship
He is a wealth of info on all the items and back story as well. Very reasonable admission, don't skip this one! A gem!!

Becca Crow

19:38 15 Mar 22

The museum was extremely well done. The exhibits were nicely displayed and pretty self-explanatory, but there were employees, including Jerry, one of the original excavators, walking around telling stories, and pointing out details the signage didn't tell. That was probably my favorite part. It took us about 2 hours to go through the entire museum. The price is very reasonable, and definitely worth it. Made a great homeschool field trip.