Old Cow Town in Wichita, KS, is a museum with collections of buildings and artifacts from the late 1800's. We spent a great portion of Saturday touring the town and witnessing the "bank robbery gone wrong" shoot out on Main Street. The town not only serves as a glimpse into the past but as a trove of local history for Wichita, Kansas, and the Arkansas River.
There are working buildings manned by volunteers dressed in authentic clothes.
I took some pictures and a video of the shoot out. As soon as I can figure out how to use Dlive, I'll put it in another post. For now, just enjoy the still pictures.
This is the entrance to Cow Town. The white building to the left is the First Presbyterian Church. When you continue down this road you will find buildings housing a pharmacy, dentist office, law office, a tailor, and even a dress maker. To name a few.
Here you see the church and fenced in graveyard. One of the headstones is dated 1904.
Display of some of the bibles used in church during the time. The church was constructed in the 1860's and maintained opened doors till the early 1900's. The building itself was lifted and relocated to Cow Town.
The Murdock house. This was the home of the founding editor of the Wichita Eagle. A newspaper still in print today. This house represented a high class home. The first floor consisted of a parlor, kitchen, and dining area. The second floor was made up of three small bedrooms.
The parlor of the Murdock house.
Dining room of the Murdock house.
An extension of the parlor.
Keeping warm in the winter in the parlor.
The Murdock kitchen.
In this photo, the above stove is to the right and the entrance to the pantry pictured below is on the left.
The saloon and Southern Hotel are on Main Street where the shootout occurs.
The entrance to the Southern Hotel brings you to a small check in desk. A common theme in these times, you can purchase cigars here as well.
Behind the desk, a telegraph and safe. Safe is located under the desk, not shown.
If you sprang for the $1.00 a day room & board, you were able to enjoy the dining room in the hotel.
Notice the 1872 date on the menu, and the calf's liver, braised with onions.
There Was a lot more to see and we could have spent many more hours there. I also Have many more pictures and a video. I was impressed with the dinning area. The hollywood version of the west was not so as they depict it to be. Before Wyatt Earp became famous in Tombstone he was the Marshal here in Wichita.
I hope you enjoyed the short tour of Cowntown. We will go back to see the rest of what the town has to offer.
Here is the link to Cowtown official web site
http://www.oldcowtown.org/Pages/About.aspx
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