Frazier Kentucky History Museum

During my trip to Louisville, I made a visit to the Frazier Kentucky History Museum downtown. In fact, I hadn’t really thought of it until the other guest on my Old Louisville architectural tour said she was going.

Frazier Kentucky History Museum

The motto of the Frazier Kentucky History Museum is “Where the world meets Kentucky.” And that seems pretty apt! In its location right across from the famous Louisville Slugger factory, here you can get a good taste of where Kentucky influences the world stage.

You can even do a bourbon tasting here – there’s a tasting room even before you get to the museum itself. But beyond that, there is a large gift shop and a counter to get your tickets.

Right off the bat on the first floor is a large, open room dedicated to famous Kentucky citizens. I especially love that there is a little seating area and a bookshelf with books from Kentucky authors. I like that they have the actual books here and not just a display. This way, you can pluck a book off the shelf and read a few pages of the real thing. (Or read the whole book, I don’t think anyone would mind! Just don’t take them away.)

Kentucky Music

My favorite exhibit in the Frazier Museum is the one about the music makers. This room has a great progression from old-timey mountain music to more modern funk and rock. I think there was even a section with records to play.

My favorite display in the whole museum is here – a circular platform with how we have stored and played music through the years. It starts with a plastic/wax cylinder, through phonographs and 8-Tracks, all the way to an Apple iPod. At each stop, there’s a button that plays a song from that era. I really got a kick out of the songs they chose for each!

The Southern Exhibition

There’s a large hall on one side of the second floor with booths and clothes from the time of the Southern Exhibition. It was a sort of world’s fair held in Louisville from 1883-1887.

What is a Vote Worth?

The newest and biggest exhibit is on the women’s suffrage movement from the turn of the 20th century to now. It includes everything from the clothes suffragists wore, dinner service for the cause, and voting rights buttons from the 1900’s to the 60’s.

You can even get a guided talk of the exhibit – I did, and it was worth it. I think there’s one talk a day. I toured the whole museum then came back for the talk before leaving.

Permanent Exhibits

It seems that the Frazier Museum started as a historical firearms museum of some kind. As such, it has several notable guns in its permanent collection. Teddy Roosevelt’s “Big Stick” rifle was out on loan during my visit. But I think the picture I took is of Jesse James’ revolver.

George Washington’s ceremonial long rifle is here, as well as Daniel Boone’s family Bible and Geronimo’s bow and arrows.

Another part of the permanent collection is scattered around the museum – The Stewart Historic Miniatures Collection. Battle scenes and tiny scenarios play out along walls and tucked into corners. They’re really neat if you stop to look. It’s apparently the largest collection of rare toy soldiers in the world. At least the largest on display.

The Spirit of Kentucky

The top floor of the Frazier Kentucky History Museum has to do with bourbon. Of course it does! This floor is also the most interactive. Usually, there are several hands-on displays that explain how to make the whiskey, but those were all closed off during my visit. It’s all a bit stylized and fun. And there’s a fun image tunnel you can walk through. Very Epcot-esque.

One beautifully back-lit display hallway features every bourbon made in Kentucky.

Also on this floor is a fun Lewis & Clark exhibit geared towards kids. There are huts and tents to go into and boats and lots of colorful displays. I enjoyed learning more about York, William Clark’s servant and the only African-American on the famous expedition.

Visiting Frazier Kentucky History Museum

An adult ticket to visit the Frazier Museum is $14, $2 less if you’re military or 60 and over. Students with ID and all children from 5-17 are $10. Kids 4 and under are free. The museum is currently open weekend hours – Thursday-Saturday, 10 am-5 pm, Sunday noon-5 pm. I’m not sure if that’s normal off-season hours or if they have been shortened due to Covid. Or maybe that’s just normal.

A walk around downtown Louisville

The Frazier Museum is right across from the Louisville Slugger Factory and Museum (which I didn’t visit) which makes it an easy one-paid-parking-stop trip to hit the highlights of downtown Louisville. I didn’t do anything else downtown other than walk around a bit and I won’t make a whole post for that, but here are a few highlights.

Like I said, the Louisville Slugger museum is right across the street. It looks like a working factory! When you walk by the large windows, you can see groups walking through. It looks like everybody gets a miniature baseball bat as a souvenir.

On the sidewalks around the area, there are brass bats and home plates with famous ballplayers’ names on each. They seem to be set up for photo ops, more or less.

Farther down on the waterfront, is a wharf area with a riverboat and statues of Clark and York. But NOT the same Clark that took York on a grand exploration. This is his older brother, George Rogers Clark, a military hero in his own right. Both Clarks were raised in pre-statehood Kentucky.

There is also a lot of beautiful architecture in downtown Louisville. I enjoy the little corner towers.

That’s it for this post. I really enjoyed walking around for an afternoon! If you want to visit, especially post-Covid, there is a whole row of museums along this main street. A good long weekend could be spent visiting all of them (plus a few distilleries.)