Kenosha Public Museum image

Kenosha Public Museum

Tourist attraction Museum Cultural center Art museum Historic site Volunteer organization Reenactment site

One of the Best Places To Visits in Kenosha


Address

5500 1st Ave, Kenosha, WI 53140

Website

www.kenoshapublicmuseum.org

Contact

(262) 653-4140

Rating on Google Maps

4.70 (1.2K reviews)

Open on Google Maps

Working Hours

  • Friday: 10 AM to 5 PM
  • Saturday: 10 AM to 5 PM
  • Sunday: 12 to 5 PM
  • Monday: 10 AM to 5 PM
  • Tuesday: 10 AM to 5 PM
  • Wednesday: 10 AM to 5 PM
  • Thursday: 10 AM to 5 PM

Featured Reviews


Frequently mentioned in reviews: museum (23) exhibits (17) kids (11) time (11) nice (9) area (9) free (9) amazing (8) loved (7) animals (6)
Reviews are sorted by relevance, prioritizing the most helpful and insightful feedback at the top for easier reference.
  • 4/5 Tre D. 2 years ago on Google
    So fresh & so clean. Very nice museam with lots of animals roaming about. Seems to have fun interactive events for kids also. Will need to take my daughter here very soon. Great exhibits with lots to learn. Also has a great auditorium for presentations & gatherings
    4 people found this review helpful 👍

  • 5/5 teresa m. 3 years ago on Google
    There is a small donation request upon entering, huge area to social distance from others and masks are required. This Museum has done a lot for the community one of which is really teach about the heavy history located right in the city that we live in. They have very detailed walk through areas just jam packed with information. The life size wooly mammoth *replica* that was found right here in SE WI is my favorite part, next to the view from the second story facing the light house and lake Michigan, the art exhibits that change from time to time and the very welcoming and knowledgeable staff.
    3 people found this review helpful 👍

  • 5/5 John N. 2 years ago on Google
    This is an awesome museum. Very cool displays of stuffed animals and life in prior time periods.
    2 people found this review helpful 👍

  • 5/5 Julie H. 1 year ago on Google
    Easy parking in free lot! Free admission although they appreciate donations! Very informative and interesting exhibits! Nice place for the whole family. Small art gallery upstairs. Lots of wild animals (stuffed ones of course)! Lots of history of the area and indigenous people, dinosaurs and fossils.
    1 person found this review helpful 👍

  • 5/5 Ris G. 1 year ago on Google
    Kristine was great to work with! I loved coordinating a wedding here last weekend! I can hardly wait to explore the museum on my own!
    1 person found this review helpful 👍

  • 4/5 Steve M. 1 year ago on Google
    Great little museum right on the lakefront. Does a nice job of explaining history as it relates to the immediate area. Also has a nice art gallery which had some amazing paintings for sale. Easy to find and easy to have an enjoyable few hours learning about the local history.
    1 person found this review helpful 👍

  • 5/5 Pattie1450 2 years ago on Google
    Great experience for kids & adults alike. Beautiful clean maintained building & always interesting exhibits..Great friendly volunteers & wonderful workers. Thanks for a nice time!
    1 person found this review helpful 👍

  • 5/5 Charrie F. 2 years ago on Google
    It is so awesome to have this attraction in our city. First off, its a free museum that accepts donations. If you have younger children, this is the place to be. Come learn and support this amazing place!! While taking my kids on a homeschool trip/tour today, we had a suprise at the end of the tour when we turned the corner and saw a woman playing the flute so beautifully behind what would've been an old trading store. She gave the kids pennys for a suvioner and my kids were so excited. I really love what they've done with kids areas as well. My kids 11, 7,6,and 5yrs didn't want to leave and we had been there for over two hours.
    1 person found this review helpful 👍

  • 5/5 Stephanie P. 2 years ago on Google
    We LOVED this museum! We could have spent all day in the children's area alone. There's an adorable log cabin that's perfect for kids to play in. Inside the foam wooden logs are stuffed animals. My son is an animal fantastic and could not get enough of these. He also loved the animal figurines found in the drawers. They were organized so neatly by the type of animal. We made sure to try to put them all away organized as well. There were crystals, fossils, and more for children to have a hands on learning experience. My daughter had a blast building a cabin with the foam blocks. She also loved the water painting station and was so proud of her painting. After we reluctantly moved on from the children's area, we toured the whole museum. The kids loved the giant shark! The wooly mammoth was fascinating to them as well. (If you haven't noticed, theres a definite interest with animals and my children.) We went through the dinosaurs to the ice age and then to native Americans. While touring the wax figures and seeing native american tools, you can hear the most beautiful flute playing. Come to my surprise when we turned the corner and saw it was an actual woman playing the flute behind a glass sitting at what would've been an old trading store. She gave the kids pennies that we turned into souvenirs!!! How cool! I had to snap a photo of this Inuit mom carrying her baby from the Inuit art displays. The next things that stood out to us were the stuffed animal room, we spent the most amount of time here from the actual museum. Lastly, the crystal wall at the very end blew me away!! I was stunned by the rare collection they had. We looked around the gift shop and the prices were extremely reasonable. Next time we visit, I'm grabbing some Christmas gifts from here!!! Overall, its a free museum that accepts donations. If you have younger children, this is the place to be. Come learn and support this amazing place!!
    1 person found this review helpful 👍

  • 5/5 Md Nafiul Alam N. 11 months ago on Google
    A must visit museum if you are in Kenosha. The admission is free and they have parking right outside the building. We were lucky to explore an art exhibition on the second floor as well.
    1 person found this review helpful 👍

  • 5/5 Angelique T. 1 year ago on Google
    My little family had an amazing time at this museum! We walked in to a very nice and clean museum and were greeted by a very nice man who had amazing information! He was so excited to tell us all about the amazing exhibits and what exactly was in there and then when we started he set the stage for us to have an amazing experience! We drove 2 hours to get there and it was totally worth it! Plus the gift shop is equally as awesome and totally affordable 10/10 would recommend

  • 5/5 Timothy V. 1 year ago on Google
    Very interesting set of exhibits on the history of the area from prehistory through the settlement by native Americans and their early interaction with Europeans and the U.S. Government. Also another quite informative set of exhibits on the various ecosystems of the earth. Several other smaller exhibits; all very well presented and interest-holding.

  • 5/5 Becka I. 1 year ago on Google
    My 2 year old daughter and I had a wonderful time at the library! It's a wonderful free resource for parents. She loved playing in the play and Discovery area. Walking around the second floor and seeing all the big animals was her favorite part. The staff are friendly and the museum is very well kept.

  • 5/5 Fred C. 5 months ago on Google
    It’s a free museum (donations accepted). Very well done, clean and well maintained. Worth the time and kid friendly

  • 5/5 Elise M. 10 months ago on Google
    Excellent displays including mammoth skeleton. Great exhibits on Indian life around time of European contact. I would like to see much more on effigy mounds and current research on those earlier periods (post Paleo Indian) because Wisconsin has the most effigy mounds in the world. It's your unique heritage and it's not well known.

  • 5/5 Jim T. 1 year ago on Google
    Nice place to visit 🙂 The exhibition pieces are delicate. Highly recommended if you come here Kenosha 😊

  • 5/5 Mark D. 11 months ago on Google
    It's a fun museum. Donate what you can or will. It's bigger than I had imagined.

  • 5/5 C J. 5 months ago on Google
    Friendly staff, informative permanent exhibits of the mammoths and Native Americans, beautiful building interior, excellent temporary art displays. It’s always worth while to check out the public museum once or twice a year to see the new exhibits, especially since its free. :)

  • 5/5 samantha h. 6 months ago on Google
    Free museum with a suggested donation of $5. Very nice place with well presented exhibits.

  • 5/5 Douglas R. 2 years ago on Google
    Very impressed by the quality of the exhibits. If you intend to examine each exhibit closely, set aside a few hours. If you are just glancing, the museum will take you about 20 minutes to pass through. A $5 donation is recommended, though the museum is free.

  • 5/5 Nathaniel H. 2 years ago on Google
    A great little public museum free to the public. Focuses on local natural history, they have a wooly mammoth skeleton, many exhibits about the native population and a nice exhibit about the ice age. Upstairs there is a large space with rotating exhibits and a new exhibit about the precursors to museums called "scientific curiosities" about curiosity cabinets from the 1800s

  • 5/5 Teresa H. 2 years ago on Google
    Excellent, interesting and fun exhibits. Friendly and helpful staff. Beautiful view of Lake Michigan!

  • 5/5 Dianna F. 2 years ago on Google
    Nice museum, lots of cool things to seem my daughter loved it!

  • 4/5 Wisco S. 2 years ago on Google
    This is actually really nice public museum with a lot of information. You could spend a good 3 hours here learning about the past of the area and a broad.

  • 5/5 Maddy N. 4 years ago on Google
    Free museum but a huge amount of items to see! Totally worth the visit! It would be informative for younger children but not a lot of "touch and play" items for them. They do have a separate kids learning area.

  • 5/5 Chelsea L. 3 years ago on Google
    Lovely place. So much to see and kid friendly. The staff are amazing and the displays are so detailed and informative. The gift shop is a must before you leave.

  • 5/5 Judy M. 2 years ago on Google
    I love the event that Antonio and Jauntair Campbell host it was very wonderful very inspiring very knowledgeable I hope to see them in more real soon congratulations. Campbell's

  • 5/5 Terry H. 2 years ago on Google
    Great museum! Kids will enjoy, lots of great exhibits. No charge. And cute gift shop with reasonable prices 😍

  • 5/5 KenoConsin P. 2 years ago on Google
    I love going there and seeing the big shark think hanging from the ceiling. Freaking awesome

  • 5/5 Amy J. 3 years ago on Google
    Took my daughter here for her first time and it was fantastic. Safe covid precautions. Always loved it here!! Can't wait to go again.


Call (262) 653-4140 Open on Google Maps

Amenities


  • Accessibility
    • ✓️ Wheelchair accessible entrance
    • ✓️ Wheelchair accessible restroom
    • ✓️ Wheelchair accessible parking lot

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