Soak in the brilliance on a road trip along this brainy Missouri route.
The Explorer's Guide to Highway 36: The Way of American Genius

It’s hard to imagine given today’s world of instant communication, but in 1860, dozens of intrepid men on horseback braved daunting conditions to carry personal letters and newspapers from St. Joseph, Missouri – the end of the westbound mail train – roughly 1,800 miles to Sacramento, California. These riders – proud members of the Pony Express – aimed to complete the trek in just 10 days. 

At the Pony Express National Museum in St. Joseph, you can study the diorama-style exhibit that documents the riders’ ambitious route across treacherous terrain, battling harsh conditions and hostile encounters.

Other exhibit spaces, like the tack room and harness shop, highlight the painstaking preparation that went into the long trip. Impressive works of art, like a hand-painted buffalo sculpture, and interactive stations for children also fill the rooms. Don’t miss the Hall of Riders, featuring portraits and related ephemera of these gutsy riders. 

At the end of a windy drive, and housed in a one-time mental asylum, the Glore Psychiatric Museum in St. Joseph is a surreal stop that may leave you feeling equal parts wowed and weirded out. 

From incredible historic installations, to others that are downright cringe-worthy, the museum boldly shares the history of the treatment of mental illness. Exhibits range from a deep-dive into the controversial past of the lobotomy to examples of bizarre practices, like dunking baths, human-sized hamster wheels, a haunting “tranquilizer chair,” and other contraptions intended to exhaust patients into submission or change unbefitting behavior. 

One noteworthy item is a stunning wheel of art made from hundreds of nails, buttons, and other small objects that were digested by a patient in 1874, the same year the several-hundred acre State Lunatic Asylum No. 2 was built in St. Joseph. Be sure to seek out the gallery containing a collection of incredible art created by patients.

It’s a small place – just a few rooms and seemingly unfit for the larger-than-life aura of outlaw Jesse James – but here, adjacent to the Patee House Museum in St. Joseph, the infamous James took his final breath. 

In 1882, James, just 34 years old and living under an assumed name at the time, was gunned down in this modest home by Bob Ford in response to a $10,000 reward from the Missouri governor. 

Inside, a tie pin he was wearing on the day he died, the handles of his coffin, and other artifacts related to James’s life and death are all on display, including items uncovered behind the wall where the bullet from that fateful shot was lodged.

Step inside the Patee House Museum and get whisked into a throw-back world of intrigue. Dozens of rooms in this one-time posh hotel are packed with thousands of historical artifacts, from antique telephones and cameras to musical instruments, carriages,  and lots more.

Built as a luxury hotel by John Patee in 1858 – intended to be a last breath of the refined life before the brave made their way to the newly settled west – the building also served as the first stop along the Pony Express. In 1876, it served as a women’s college until 1881, when it reverted back to a high-end hotel. Today, the museum is owned and operated by the Pony Express Historical Association.

Inside, the collection ranges from full-scale stagecoaches to a stunning, still-operable carousel that plays a jingle-jangle waltz. Hop on any one of the whimsical creatures – a dolphin, cheetah, or eagle are all good picks – and take a spin. 

Spend some time studying the antique furniture and historic paintings in upper floor galleries. Adjacent to the museum is the Jesse James Home, where the infamous outlaw was killed. James’s wife and children reportedly stayed in this hotel for a few days after his death. 

Born on a farm near the small town of Hamilton, Missouri, James Cash Penney would grow up to be a big name in business. From these humble roots – and from his preacher father – Penney learned the importance of the “golden rule” – treating others as you’d want to be treated – and he applied it everyday in his business efforts. 

Dedicated in 1976, the J.C. Penney Memorial Library and Museum was a labor of love concocted by past Penney managers, among others. Along the back wall, cases filled with old photos and artifacts help tell the story of Penney’s life: From his childhood in Missouri, to a move to Longmont, Colorado, in an effort to improve his ailing health, and onto his first store, spawned from his work with a chain of stores fittingly named “Golden Rule,” in Kemmerer, Wyoming. A couple of cases even share J.C. Penney’s other love – agriculture. For decades, he raised prize-winning steers and other farm animals.

J.C. Penney store memorabilia can also be found throughout the one-room museum, including Christmas bags, store catalogs, marketing signs, and a collection of small J.C. Penney-themed coin banks. Newspaper clippings and photographs from Penney’s 500th store opening – in Hamilton – are also found here.

The town of Hamilton is serious about quilting. Located in a historic schoolhouse, the Missouri Quilt Museum is an impressive, multi-room collection of not just stunning quilts but hundreds of antique sewing machines, thimble collections, toys, and other artifacts related to the hobby. 

Quilts in bright, busy patterns, crazy quilts from the 19th century, modern quilts made for competitions, 3D quilts, floral quilts, and even quilt-themed quilts – they can all be found throughout the massive gallery spaces. 

Be sure to visit the miniatures room – an entire exhibit featuring mini quilts atop little doll beds, all made by celebrated Lincoln, Nebraska-based quilter Pat Kuhns. Another can’t-miss is a pixelated Albert Einstein quilt by Anne Wadley. The kids will love to make a stop downstairs, where one whole room is dedicated to toy sewing machines. 

While there, add your own string to the World’s Largest Spool of Thread, a giant, colorful structure located on the museum’s front lawn.

The slices of a larger-than-life loaf of bread fall, piece by piece, atop an industrial building, once home to the Chillicothe Baking Company. Proudly known as the “Home of Sliced Bread,” the town has fun with its innovative baking roots and created a small visitor’s center out of the bakery itself.

As the story goes, on a July day in 1928, Frank Bench was the first bold baker to team up with inventor Otto Rohwedder to use a machine to produce loaves of sliced bread. Bench began selling the new loaves in area grocery stores to instant buzz – the community loved them, and his sales grew 2,000 percent in just two weeks. 

Though that famed machine eventually fell apart, the second device ever produced, a 1928 Rohwedder Breadslicer, is on long-term loan from the Smithsonian, just a few streets away at the Grand River Historical Society Museum. 

The town of Marceline is a genial place, which is fitting because it’s where the creative genius Walt Disney grew up. Disney spent hours in his early youth imagining characters and drumming up stories under a large cottonwood on his family's farm that he called the Dreaming Tree. 

Housed in the old Santa Fe train depot stop (Disney found endless awe and inspiration in trains), the Walt Disney Hometown Museum is made up of several rooms, largely comprising his sister Ruth Disney Beecher’s collection. Walt’s school desk, hundreds of photos, collectible film and cartoon clips of beloved characters like Donald Duck, a Mickey Mouse flag, and other artifacts share stories primarily of Disney’s childhood in Marceline, but also touching on his epic career, and his many visits back home. 

If your Disney appetite isn’t fully satiated following time in the museum, take a walking tour around the town itself for many more Walt-infused locales. Disney found magic throughout Marceline – it’s said that, with its lampposts and charming storefronts, Disneyland’s “Main Street USA” was modeled after Main Street Marceline.

As the boyhood home of famed author Mark Twain, born Samuel Clemens, there’s hardly a corner of Hannibal that doesn’t pay some homage to the writer. 

Downtown, the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum is a campus made up of several museums and historic sites related to Twain, including the house he grew up in and a museum dedicated to his life’s work. 

Larger-than-life pages from Twain’s books, reconstructed scenes from his novels – the cave in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, for example – artifacts from his time as a steamboat pilot, first-edition books, games he created, and more, all help shed light on the fascinating mind of Mark Twain. 

Upstairs, be sure to check out the collection of Norman Rockwell illustrations produced as accompanying art for two of Twain’s biggest hits. The famed artist was commissioned for the special-edition works in 1935 and traveled to Hannibal to create preliminary sketches. In 1972, Rockwell donated the works to the museum.

On the outskirts of Hannibal, weave your way deep into the craggy interior of the cave that helped shape the creative mind of Mark Twain. As a boy, Samuel Clemens spent countless hours exploring this dark labyrinth, with 260 known passages, that inspired the wonder he would call on when writing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. 

The cave was discovered in the winter of 1819, but official tours didn’t begin until 1886, about a decade after Twain published his classic work. Follow in the footsteps of characters Tom and Becky on a guided walking tour that touches on some of the cave’s highlights along a nearly half-mile route. Lighted pathways and flat surfaces make it safe to walk inside.  

Hundreds of thousands of signatures, written on the cave’s walls in candle smoke, pencil, or berry juice, are found in what’s known as “Autograph Alley.” In 2019, the name “Clemens” in a script that mirrors Mark Twain’s was discovered and authenticated by experts. Signatures are no longer permitted, since the cave is designated as a National Natural Registered Landmark.

The cave widens dramatically at a point referred to as “The Parlor,” where, for decades, the mayor would hold town hall meetings, attracted by the cool 52-degree temperature inside. Another feature worth seeking is a nook known to have doubled as a hideout for outlaw Jesse James.