Missouri

☆ = Attractions we have seen ★= Attractions we would like to see

Attractions

Affton: Big School Ice Cream Cone – A big, multi-colored, multi-scoop ice cream cone stood outside of the Velvet Freeze ice cream store in town for 50 years before it was moved to elementary school grounds in 1992.

Akers: Welch Spring Hospital Ruins – Doctor Diehl bought Welch Spring in 1913 and built a hospital on the site. The doctor believed in the healing properties of fresh air and clean water. Unfortunately the site was hard to get to in the early 1900s, and the hospital fell into disrepair. Its entrances have been barred.

Belleview: ☆ Elephant Rocks State Park – Ancient volcanic action and erosion created massive red granite boulders that remind visitors of lines of circus elephants. Some of the rocks have elephant names — Dumbo is 27 ft. tall.

Belton:

Bonne Terre:

  • Bonne Terre Mine: Billion Gallon Lake – the Mine offers an hour-long walking tour through cavernous rooms — supported by rock pillars 50 feet high — and a boat ride on the lake. It is also a divers resort.
  • Lead Miner Statue – “Sam,” a sculpture of a bearded, 1920s-era lead miner, with pick axe at the ready, stands on a traffic island on the way into town.
  • Nike Missile – VFW hall 6883 
  • ★ Space Museum and Gus Grissom Center – largest privately held collection of space memorabilia and artifacts in the state of Missouri

Boonville:

  • ★ Budweiser Clydesdales Ranch – Warm Springs Ranch – Tour the breeding farm for the world’s most famous beer horses.
  • Old Jail and Hanging Barn – The longest continuously-used county jail in Missouri (1848-1978). Out back, the barn was the site of Missouri’s last official public hanging (1930.)

Branson:

Brumley: ☆ Swinging Bridges Road

Brunswick: ☆ Former World’s Largest Pecan – 12 feet long and six solid tons, it’s a nutty claim to fame made of custom-painted concrete.

Butler:

  • Max: Reality TV Cartoony Cowboy – Two giant fiberglass cowboys on poles — about 30 miles apart — have been installed at Max Motors car lots in Butler and Nevada, Missouri. These are not Muffler Men and appear to be the comic-looking logo of the dealership. Both are visible from I-49. These look like the work of F.A.S.T.
  • Mini Statue of Liberty – Another replica Statue from the “Strengthen the Arm of Liberty” campaign, funded by the Boy Scouts of America.

California: Burgers’ Smokehouse Visitors Center – As you enter the Visitor’s Center portion of this local meat smokehouse, you are treated to three dusty dioramas of typical Missouri seasons. A creepy dummy named “Slim” peers down at you from the wall and drawls a welcome spiel while swinging his leg. Follow the hall to the left and end up in the smokehouse deli, where you can end your tour with a ham sandwich. Several smoked meats odds and ends are also for sale there.

Camdenton:

  • Bridal Cave = Holds the record for the most underground weddings — over 3,000 since the first netherworld nuptials in 1949.
  • ☆ Ruins of Ha Ha Tonka = State Park. Built by a Kansas City millionaire who died before it was completed. The castle was gutted by fire in 1942; now it’s a shutterbug-worthy ruin.

Canton: ★ Remember When Toy Museum – Robert Wyatt’s indoor collection of over 20,000 toys. Outdoors, next to the road, is a recreated pioneer village, and a collection of vintage cars from the 1950s and 1960s on Robert’s front lawn.

Cape Girardeau:

  • ☆ Taft Mural: Visit Us Again – Part of a 1,500-foot-long mural painted on Cape Girardeau’s flood wall, depicting key moments in its history, including President Taft’s arrival by boat on 16 October 1909, entering town under a ceremonial arch erected on this spot. The mural, painted by Thomas Melvin in 2005, entreats Taft to “Visit Us Again,” but he never did.
  • ☆ World’s Largest Fountain Drink Cup – 15 feet tall, holds 605,556 regular-size cups 

Carterville: ★ SuperTAM on 66: Superman Memorabilia – An ice cream parlor that displays over 2,600 memorabilia items of the Man of Steel, whose name because of copyright law cannot be mentioned.

Cassville: Home of the White-Gray Squirrels – Not albinos, but the town promotes them anyway.

Center: Jim Brown’s Gas Station – This is a mock-up of an early gas station. It was built by retiree Jim Brown (not the football player). Inside the station is a museum of car maintenance items, and Coca-Cola memorabilia. Pictures can be taken from the outside at any time. To see the numerous items inside, see Jim Brown, next door, in the house to the left of the “station.” He spent the past 6 years, off and on, building this site. There is no fee.

Centralia: ★ Larry Vennard’s Metal Dinosaurs – Outsider art park is a front lawn prehistoric menagerie, made from tools and scrap. The sculptor is Larry Vennard.

Charleston: Boomland – vintage fireworks store

Chillicothe:

  • Fighter Jet on a Pole – An old F-105 Thunder Chief jet fighter has been perched outside Chillicothe Municipal Airport since 1985.
  • ★ Home of Sliced Bread – If you like the modern marvel of pre-sliced bread, stop here, and consider leaving a couple slices as tribute. There’s also a nice mural downtown, across from Donut King.

Clarence: ★ 1950s Gas Station With Dummies – An old MFA Oil service station seems operational until you realize that all the occupants of the cars are mannequins.

Clayton:

  • ★ Big Shoe Made of Shoes – An elegant ladies’ high heel, ten feet tall, assembled out of a multitude of high heeled shoes by artist Victoria Fuller. This giant woman’s pump shoe is still proudly standing in front of the Brown Shoe company building.
  • Terminator Cube – Although the sculpture looks as if the half dozen chromium humanoids are being spawned by the central cube, Trova meant them to represent bureaucratic, faceless “everymen” bestriding a soulless universe.

Cleveland: Muffler Man – Way down a rocky back road, the Muffler Man sits far back on private property. 

Collins: World’s Largest Display of American Revolutionary War Flags – Ken and Sue Molzahn have taken it upon themselves to line their long driveway with flagpoles, each flying a different Revolutionary War flag — well over 100 in all.

Columbia:

  • ★ Bronze Beetle Bailey – Comic strip artist Mort Walker was a University of Missouri alumnus. He designed and paid for this statue, which was unveiled in 1992. Beetle sits at a table with a beer.
  • Neon: Arrow Head Motel – Neon sign — which still works but is currently turned off — features a big arrowhead and an Indian boy sending neon-sequenced smoke signals. The motor court was built in 1938, the sign was added later.

Crystal City: Eager Gas Jockey – A somewhat life-size, cartoony statue of a gas station attendant named Paul greets customers at a used car lot.

De Soto: Big Pink Pig Named Floyd – Pink Floyd, a pig inspired by an ancient British prog supergroup, advertised lawn ornaments in Dittmer before promoting a BBQ business in DeSoto.

Diamond:

Dittmer: Big Bender – A towing business displays a supersized junk art rendition of Futurama’s sociopath robot, Bender. His head alone is a 55-gallon oil drum, to give you a sense of his scale.

Doniphan: ★ Frogs Shooting Pool – Current River Heritage Museum. Two floors of exhibits! Our favorite display is the old “Frog Tavern” diorama with stuffed frogs drinking and shooting pool.

Eagleville: ☆ Buffalo Hunt – Metal Silhouettes – In a field adjacent to a freeway rest stop, life-size rusty-steel cut-outs of Indians hunting buffalo.

Easley: BoatHenge – Boathenge is comprised of six boats stuck in to the ground at the Coopers Landing campground near Easley MO at mile marker 162.

Edgar Springs:

El Dorado Springs: Healing Spring of the Osage – Natural spring in the city park was used by the Osage Indians. Its healing powers were so wonderful that it became a medical destination, and then a town was built around it.

Excelsior Springs: ☆ The Hall of Waters – Elaborate Art Deco temple devoted to the curative power of mineral water. Site of the World’s Longest Water Bar, high windows, futurist chandeliers, and polished terrazzo floors.

Fayette: ★ Stephens Museum – Boone Gravestone, Big Game, Extinction – University museum collection includes stuffed extinct passenger pigeon and Carolina parakeet, the original tombstone of Daniel Boone, and a room of wildlife and big game mounts.

Fenton:

  • Big Pink Elephant – Life-size, at one time held an oversized martini glass. Blues eyes, white tusks and toenails.
  • Creepyworld – Sep. – beginning of Nov.  Halloween complex.

Fort Leonard Wood: ★ Military Museums of Fort Leonard Wood – Three museums under one roof, all free. The U.S. Army Engineer Museum and Military Police Museum are both good, but the Chemical Corps Museum is what you want to see first.

Fulton:

  • Auto World Museum – Antique car collection of the late William Backer, potato chip factory owner. Early cars, 1903-1987, in a setting of building facades and photo blowups. An 1896 Ford Quadricycle, a ’57 Thunderbird, an ’82 Delorean, and at least one potato chip delivery truck.
  • ★ National Churchill Museum and Berlin Wall Pieces – National Churchill Museum, Churchill, spunky savior of the free world during WWII, gave his “Iron Curtain” speech in 1946 at Fulton’s Westminster College. Museum is in the church basement; outdoors there’s a Churchill statue, and chunks of Berlin Wall arranged into art by his granddaughter.

Galena: The Y Bridge – Relatively short on the Y end, but you still don’t often see a bridge that splits in two.

Gladden: Gladden – A Tiny Town – Gladden is a town so small that its town limits signs are mounted on opposite sides of the same post.

Golden City: Tiny Church – A small chapel, built by some moonlighting Boy Scouts in the 1950s.

Golden: Golden Pioneer Museum – Known for its rock collection, but also has collections of Kewpie dolls, lunch boxes, miniature shoes, pictures made from arrowheads, etc.

Gravois Mills: Cup Tree and Shoe Fence – Just a few yards from each other, they’ve been around for years. No one knows when people began nailing cups to an old oak tree — now a stump — and lining a wire fence with shoes, but it’s been long enough that the adjacent road has been renamed to honor the tree.

Hamilton:★ J.C. Penney Museum – small museum in Hamilton Public Library

Hannibal:

  • Haunted House on Hill Street Wax Museum
  • Karlock Cars and Pop Culture Museum – Jackie and Steve Karlock moved from California and opened a museum of their collection of classic cars and pop culture items in August 2016.
  • ☆ Large Mug of Root Beer – Mark Twain Family Restaurant. Large mug of root beer on-a-pole (a former Frostop chain sign) advertises a restaurant serving its homemade root beer since 1942.
  • ☆ Mark Twain Boyhood Home
  • ★ Mark Twain Cave: Jimmy Carter Guest Book – Campground and cave tours. It has a unique story of how it was formed, and since it is no longer growing you can touch the walls. It has thousands of signatures on the walls from the last century, even Jesse James.
  • ☆ Mark Twain Lighthouse Lit by Presidents – Dedicated in 1935 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Mark Twain’s birth. Lit by three different Presidents at three different times. You can climb to the top for a view.
  • ☆ Mark Twain Museum
  • ☆ Mark Twain Statue – The statue was erected in 1913, just three years after his death. It stands in Riverview Park, overlooking the Mississippi River.
  • ☆ Mark Twain, Riverboat Pilot – A statue of a young Mark Twain stands at an artistically odd half of a ship’s wheel, overlooking the Mississippi River.
  • ☆ Tom Sawyer’s Fence – The fence was a work of fiction, but one just like it has been erected at the spot described in the book, and a historical marker has been added for credibility.
  • ☆ Tom and Huck Statue – The two barefoot boys stand at the north end of town, overlooking its Main St. 
  • ★ Unsinkable Molly Brown Museum – Molly Brown was on her way back to Hannibal when she survived the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Her Hannibal museum is in her humble birthplace.

Hermann:

  • Hermann the German – Two thousands years after the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, the small town of Hermann erected a statue in honor of its Germanic namesake. Hermann is in the Missouri Rhineland, is the state’s sausage capital, and celebrates Oktoberfest and Maifest.
  • Steamboat Memorial – The Hermann River Memorial is in the shape of a steamboat and has a great view of the river where many of them once paddled. When you enter the memorial you see the actual wheel from the steamer John Heckmann. The memorial commemorates many of the people from the Hermann area who captained these ships. Hermann is also where the steamer “Big Hatchie” exploded in 1842, killing 35.

Hornersville:

  • Buster Brown’s Grave – A big tombstone for the local little person who became famous as Buster Brown, spokesman for Buster Brown shoes.
  • Spook Light – A mysterious orb supposedly haunts this dark, dirt, farm road at night.

Humphreys: Sleep in a Grain Bin – Granny’s Country Cottage Bed and Breakfast. Out in the middle of farm country, a two-story round grain bin has been turned into a bed and breakfast.

Huntsville: ★ Large Ball of String – Prize possession of the Huntsville Historical Society, a ball of string maybe six feet across sits in a back room of its downtown museum.

Jameson: Adam and Eve Lived Here – According to Mormon prophet Joseph Smith, this is Adam-ondi-Ahman, the place where Adam and Eve moved after being kicked out of the Garden of Eden. The rural acreage is now owned by the LDS Church, which has improved it with a picnic area, restrooms, and helpful signs.

Jefferson City:

  • ★ Bonnie and Clyde Shootout Souvenirs – Col. Alvin R. Lubker Memorial Safety and Education Center. A showcase in the Highway Patrol’s museum displays a Bonnie and Clyde rifle from a shootout in Joplin, a Missouri license plate that they stole, and gruesome photos of the outlaw couple after they had been shot to shreds in an ambush in Louisiana. Also see Otto the Talking Car.
  • Head of Rush Limbaugh, Famous Missourian – As an inductee in the Hall of Famous Missourians at the state capitol, conservative talk radio celebrity Rush Limbaugh is honored with a big bronze Rush head. Only 41 Missourians have met the hall’s standard for fame, including President-for-a-day David Rice Atchison, game show host Bob Barker, Mutual of Omaha’s Marlin Perkins, and shopping mall namesake J.C. Penney.
  • Kraken: Poolside Sea Monster – Folk art Kraken sculpture undulates in and out of the grass next to a public swimming pool.
  • ★ Missouri State Penitentiary Tours – Prison, 1836-2004, dubbed “the bloodiest 47 acres in America.” Visitors today on guided tours get to see the prison dungeon, gas chamber, and death row.
  • ★ Veterinary Museum – Small, but it does have some freakish things in jars and a display of instruments with uncomfortable purposes.

Kearney: Jesse James’ Feather Duster of Death – The James Farm. James Homestead. It has a lot of information on Jesse’s life and his family, and a nice gift shop as well.

Keytesville: Roadway Cautionary Woman – Ten-foot tall woman made of highway warning cones and barrels by a Missouri Dept. of Transportation maintenance garage.

Kidder: Front Yard “Castle” Containing Cremated Couple – Bill Crabb has built a rock monument to his deceased wife in his front yard in this small northwest Missouri town. The elaborate castle-looking monument is also an urn as it holds his wife’s ashes. It is made out of a bunch of colorful rocks and mortar. It is a sight to see.

King City: ★ The Big Pump – A 1930s gas station built in the shape of a huge, red, gas pump. Regular-size pumps stand out front for your fantasy fill up photos.

Kingdom City: Ozarkland – Ozarkland, a gift shop/tourist trap, encourages you to take home hillbilly and Route 66 souvenirs — even though it’s nowhere near Route 66.

Kirksville:

  • Cursed Baird Devil’s Chair – Urban legend that the cemetery’s marble chair, sculpted by John C. Baird, is direct-wired to Hell. Anyone seated at midnight (or Halloween) will be grabbed by corpse hands and dragged under. Or given super powers. Or something.
  • ★ Human Nervous System – Museum of Osteopathic Medicine. Museum of Osteopathic Medicine includes an entire human nervous system teased out of a dissected corpse, spread and framed like a work of art. Museum exhibits heritage, specimens. Osteopathy founder cabin in atrium. Gift shop.

Kirkwood: Three Stacked Chairs – Public sculpture entitled “3 Stacked Chairs” yet unsuitable for any sitting.

La Russell: The Pump – An old, rusty, hand-powered water pump sticks from a concrete slab in the middle of a downtown La Russell intersection. The Pump is a beloved civic symbol, and the town has refused repeated suggestions to remove it.

Laclede: General “Blackjack” Pershing Statue and Birthplace – The birthplace town of General Pershing offers tours of the grounds and beautifully furnished interior of his boyhood home. There is also a larger-than-life bronze statue of Pershing, along with some historical information.

Lake Ozark: ☆ Chief Bagnell and Country Bumpkin: Muffler Men – Chief Bagnell, formerly known as “Injun Joe,” was successfully restored and returned to his old spot on Aug. 13, 2016. 

Lake Wappapello: ☆ Muffler Man: Chief Wappalese – A 22-foot-tall Indian chief Muffler Man named Chief Wappalese. Previously he was Chief Sagamore, and stood outside the War Drum restaurant in Sikeston, and then later over the entrance to the Southeast Missouri State University football stadium.

Lamar:

  • Big Steer – Large fiberglass steer statues — KKOW owns several — outfitted with marquees, rented to advertise businesses and organizations believing a cow helps their cause.
  • Harry Truman Birthplace – The future President of the United States was born here in 1884 and lived in Lamar for less than a year before his family moved to a farm near Kansas City. It’s just a tiny frame house, saved from decay in the late 1950s and turned into a state (but not federal) historic site.
  • Mini Statue of Liberty – A small Lady Liberty stands on a star-shaped concrete base outside the Barton County Courthouse. She’s been here since 1950.
  • Studebaker-Truman Mural – 60-foot-wide outdoor mural includes two vintage Studebakers, President Truman, and a 1950s McDonald’s restaurant.

Lesterville: ☆ The Boulder Field – Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park. In December 2005 the Taum Sauk Reservoir breached and sent 1.3 billion gallons of water down Proffit Mountain — and left a field full of boulders.

Lexington:

  • ☆ Cannonball in a Column – Lafayette County Court House. The cannonball embedded itself into the Lafayette courthouse column between September 18 and 20, 1861, during the “Battle of the Hemp Bales.” A label painted on the column calls attention to the cannonball.
  • ☆ Madonna of the Trail – Madonna of the Trail statues stand in twelve locations from Maryland to California, tracing a historic travel route from “covered wagon days.” The 18-ft. tall monuments were a project of the Daughters of the American Revolution, installed in 1928-29, and are a tribute to pioneer mothers who traveled west with their crazy husbands.

Licking: Baseball Water Tower – Built by the Rawlins baseball company decades ago, it has survived as a civic symbol despite a move and the departure of Rawlins from the town.

Linn: ★ The Pig Museum – Where Pigs Fly Farm and Pigs Aloft Museum.

Long Lane: Smallest Bank in Missouri – Rickety old building, now isolated in a grassy lot, that was apparently just large enough to conduct business. A marker in front affirms its place in Missouri history.

Louisiana: ★ Fake Mural Painter in Town of Murals – About two dozen murals feature historic scenes painted on otherwise blank walls of this river town. Find the one with the mural painter on a ladder. What ho! He’s not real!

Macon: Shoe of the World’s Tallest Man – West Mercantile. Robert Wadlow stood nearly nine feet tall. His shoe is similarly supersized, still inside the former shoe store where it’s been for 60+ years.

Mansfield: Pitcher Who Killed Batter With Ball – Hometown boy Carl Mays, known for his unusual submarine pitching style, killed Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians on August 16, 1920, with a “beanball.” The 2010 memorial depicts Mays in the foreground and a giant, looming baseball in the background.

Marceline:

  • Walt Disney Dreaming Tree and Barn – Young Walt would sit beneath the tree and dream up ideas for cartoons. The entire farm is owned by a former Mouseketeer. The barn is another destination; Disney fans write their names on its inside walls. The old, decayed tree was reported gone in 2019.
  • ★ Walt Disney Hometown Museum – Collection of Disney family artifacts and a miniature replica of Disneyland in an old train depot. New exhibits added in 2016, including recreations of Walt’s front porch and school classroom, and a chuck of the lightning-blasted “Dreaming Tree” that visitors can touch.

Marionville: Home of the White Squirrels – Marionville claims to have the oldest colony of white squirrels in the world.

Marshall:

  • Grave of Jim the Wonder Dog – Jim the Wonder Dog was a magical (but real) pooch who could understand the English language and predict the future. He’s buried in a human cemetery.
  • ☆ Jim the Wonder Dog Memorial Garden – Memorial park to Jim the Wonder Dog, a magical (but real) pooch who could understand English and predict the future.
  • ★ Nicholas Beazley Aviation Museum – Forget Boeing — this museum chronicles the contributions to flight by the Nicholas Beazley company. Several old planes and life-size dioramas of days of yore.

Marthasville: ★ Daniel Boone’s First Grave – Everyone agrees that frontier folk here Daniel Boone died at his son’s home near Defiance, Missouri, in 1820. Everyone also agrees that he was buried about 14 miles west in Marthasville, near the grave of his wife, Rebecca. But then the story gets muddled. Both Frankfort and Marthasville claim to have the body of Daniel Boone.

Maryville: International Plaza: Clocks of Many Nations – flags of many countries, and clocks showing what time it is in various international cities.

Memphis:

  • ★ Mementoes of the Missouri Giantess – Downing House Museum. The town museum displays an eight-foot-eight-inch door from Ella Ewing’s house, one of her size 24 shoes, her nine-foot-long bed, and a life-size, very tall, photo.
  • Nash-in-the-Wall – A 1937 Nash automobile has found its way into the front wall of Jackie’s Auto Sales, “Little Detroit.”
  • ★ Pepsi Museum – Two large rooms at a Pepsi bottler have been filled with more vintage Pepsiabilia than you might expect.

Milan: Grave of Pete Kibble’s Foot –  Oakwood Cemetery, Tombstone marking the spot where the foot of a railroad worker foot lost in an accident is buried.

Mountain Grove: World’s Largest U.S. Constitution – 23-foot-high metal version of the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution. In a store parking lot. The staircase in the back lets you climb to the top for a view out over “We the People.”

Mountain View: Scrap Metal Horse Herd – A herd of horses created from discarded metal loiters on the lawn of a bank.

Neosho:

Nevada:

  • Giant Morel Mushroom – 30 feet tall, used to light up at night. Looks like a giant’s hat from a bad sword and sorcery film.
  • Max: Cartoony Cowboy – Gun-toting Max promises a quick draw in an auto sales duel. The fiberglass statue, high up on a pole, became famous after his dealership landed its own TV reality series, “Gods, Guns, and Automobiles.” 2nd location.

New London: ☆ Giant Mark Twain – Impressively large, but with disproportionately tiny hands. Appears to be made of stucco. An alarming behemoth vision of America’s favorite cigar-smoking author.

New Madrid: ★ New Madrid Earthquake Museum – The most violent earthquake in non-Alaskan American history struck New Madrid on February 7, 1812. Not many people lived there at the time, but it merits a lot of attention in the local museum. This tiny museum covers mound builders, the 1811-12 earthquake, a few wars and a miscellany room. Take a short walk up the levee for a great view of the Mississippi River off the observation deck.

Noel: Bluff Dwellers Cave: Move 20 Ton Rock with 2 Fingers – An elaborate series of passages and rooms cut by water through limestone, discovered in 1925. Operates as a commercial cave with tours. there is a spot in the caverns where a 20-ton rock is precariously balanced on another rock formation, enabling one to tip and move this huge stone with just two fingers.

Overland: ★ Dan’s Emerald Forest – he turned the front steps into his house into a waterfall. Next came miniature trees and buildings. He heard about G scale model trains — larger than most, built to survive the outdoors — and incorporated them, too. He designed tunnels so the trains continually ran from the yard into his basement for inspection and repair.

Ozark: ☆ Lambert’s – Home of Throwed Rolls – Interactive eating with dinnertime roll-pelting. Waiters, with mobile carts of hot buns, are fairly precise as they hurl bread to you from across the dining room.

Pagedale: Honey, Where’s My Metro Pass? – a sculpture of a giant set of keys, lip balm, coins, and a crumpled receipt 

Phillipsburg: ☆ I Love Lucy Car – Redmon’s Travel Center. The self-proclaimed “World’s Largest Gift Store” exhibits a 1940 Cadillac used in the I Love Lucy show.

Plato: 2010 U.S. Population Center – It’s a plaque on an upright block of Missouri red granite. The last five centers have all been in Missouri: 1980 Desoto, 1990 Steelville, 2000 Edgar Springs, 2010 Plato, 2020 Hartville. It’s the geographic point at which the U.S. would balance if each of its residents weighed the same.

Plattsburg: Statue of America’s Only One-Day President – Bronze statue honors David Rice Atchison, who had a 24-hour term as Commander-in-Chief in between James K. Polk and Zachery Taylor in 1849.

Point Lookout: ★ Ralph Foster Museum: Beverly Hillbillies Car – on the campus of the College of the Ozarks, a private Christian school. Best known exhibit is a cut-down 1921 Oldsmobile Model 46 Roadster, the truck used in the original Beverly Hillbillies TV series. The Beverly Hillbillies truck is the most worldly example of what the Ralph Foster Museum is all about: preserving mementos that somehow relate to the Ozarks, or that people in the Ozarks find interesting.

Poplar Bluff: Indian Chief Statue – A decaying Indian Chief statue had at one time a speaking tube that amplified voices, but not anymore

Portage des Sioux: Miracle Flood Repelling Virgin Mary – Prayers to the Blessed Virgin averted damage to Portage des Sioux in a 1951 Mississippi River flood. Acknowledging the miraculous intercession of “Our Lady of the Rivers,” in 1957 the citizens raised money and erected a 25 ft. tall fiberglass statue on a 20 ft. tall base.

Reeds Spring: Talking Rocks Caverns – The “talking” today is meant metaphorically — as in the rocks “talking” to you because they’re so evocative and striking.

Rich Hill: Big Mouth, World’s Largest Coal Shovel – Not a shovel like a snow shovel, it’s the bucket of a massive coal dragline, with a capacity of 30 tons per scoop. You can stand in it for novelty snapshots.

Richmond: Grave of Bob Ford, He Shot Jesse James – Shotwell Cemetery. His grave marker calls attention to his lone claim to fame.

Salem: ★ Bo’s Hollow – Ride Antique Cars, Eat Beef Jerky – A 1930s village offering Model A rides and great BBQ and beef jerky. Bo’s Hollow has something for everyone. Located in a very remote Hollow in the beautiful Missouri Ozarks.

Salisbury: Gator Chasing Grasshoppers – Scrap metal sculptures of an alligator chasing two large grasshoppers.

Sedalia:

  • Cradle of Ragtime Piano – Outdoor photo-op. Built of iron, with a cartoon-style piano and crazy undulating keyboard, it sits on train tracks and pays tribute to Sedalia music history as the “Cradle of Ragtime.”
  • Trail’s End Cattle Drive Destination Monument – Elaborate monument (including statues and a train) celebrates the end of the trail of the first post-Civil War cattle drive. Unveiled April 2015. Inside the fence of the Missouri State Fairgrounds.

Sikeston: ☆ Lambert’s, Home of the Throwed Rolls – Original location. Interactive eating with dinnertime roll-pelting.

Smithville: Woodhenge – Built in 1984, made of 48 old fence posts in a 36-foot square. 

Southwest City: Stand on Three States: Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma – Most tri-state meeting-points are off the beaten path — but not this one. It’s right next to a highway, across from a gas station and mini-mart.

St. Clair: Hot and Cold Water Towers – twin water towers labeled hot and cold

St. Genevieve: ★ Cave Vineyard – Underground Tasting – Select wine in the above-ground tasting room, and then head down to Saltpeter Cave to sip in subterranean coolness.

Stanberry: Scrap Metal Sculptures – Assortment of junk metal cows, animals and machines.

Stanton:

Steelville:

Strafford: Wild Animal Safari, formerly Exotic Animal Paradise – if you want to drive through the park in your own car, you are not allowed to roll down your windows or feed the animals. If you want to feed the animals, you have to ride a bus.

Sumner: ★ Maxie, the World’s Largest Goose – 40-foot-tall goose statue with 62-foot-wide wings in the “Wild Goose Capital of the World,” pop. 102.

Syracuse: 2,000 foot Tall Tower – 2,000 foot KMOS TV Tower (also called Rohn Tower). The tallest structure in Missouri and 5th tallest in the world. It was built in 2000-2001.

Tebbetts: Unofficial 2010 U.S. Population Center – The village of Plato, Missouri, over 100 miles to the south of Tebbetts, was designated the official 2010 U.S. Population Center based on that year’s census data. But the town of Tebbetts said that designation was wrong. The U.S. Census Bureau, according to Tebbetts, used a flat map to make its Center determination, while two researchers from a Michigan university checked the results using a 3-D map, and declared Tebbetts to be the true population center. A large sign in the town’s tiny park boasts, “‘Unofficial’ Geographic Population Center Continental U.S.A.” Since we live in a 3-D world, Tebbetts had a strong argument — at least until 2020.

Tipton: 8-Ball Water Tower – Erected in 1968, once held water vital for the manufacture of billiard tables at a local factory.

University City: Fish on a Bicycle – Sculpted in 1998 by Steven Gregory, a human-size fish sports a squiggly smile as it appears to pedal a bicycle across the surface of Lewis Park pond.

Walnut Shade: Branson Cross: Largest in America – 218 feet high, completed in late 2018. So high it had to have FAA warning beacons mounted on top.

Warrensburg:

  • Blind Boone Statue and Park – Walking bass line pioneer John William “Blind” Boone remembered with his own (once segregated) public park, a bronze statue of the ragtime/boogie woogie legend, and a wind harp.
  • Old Drum, Johnson County Old Courthouse – The trial for the 1869 killing of Old Drum the dog was conducted in this courthouse, now home of the local historical society. Historical marker and Old Drum statue out front.
  • Strange Steel Drum Family – A roadside family of amusing and/or terrifying characters, built by J.C. Carter out of old metal barrels, pails, wheel rims, and assorted scrap parts.

Washington: Corn Cob Pipe Museum – So comprehensive that it even displays corn cob pipes not made of corn cobs. See the pipe made of stone, the pipe over a foot long, etc.

Webb City:

  • ☆ Giant Hands in Prayer – 32-foot-high hands. They’ve been praying next to US Hwy 71 since 1974.
  • Kneeling Miner – A miner with a mustache and a hard hat kneels, holding a pick in one hand and a rock in the other. Bronze tribute to Webb City’s lead miners.

Wentzville: Horseshoe Pitchers Hall of Fame and Museum – Opened in 2007, with horseshoe pitching regalia dating to the 1800s. 21,000 square feet of exhibits, including lucky horseshoes, videos of some of the greatest horseshoe pitches of all time, and memorabilia from when President George H.W. Bush invited horseshoe pitchers from across America to play horseshoes at the White House

West Alton: Smallpox Island Memorial – Nearly 300 soldiers and 16 civilians were buried near this site after smallpox swept a nearby Confederate POW prison.

West Line: ★ West Line South, A Tiny Town – The town, which includes a school, church, courthouse, gas station, diner, general store, bank, and a strip mall, was built by West Line resident Romaine Dennis in 2005. All of the interiors are complete, with furnishings and merchandise. Visitors are welcome.

Weston: ☆ Largest Ball of String, Not Twine – 19 feet around, from a time when people mailed packages tied with thin postal string.

Windsor: Sleep in a Caboose – Cruce’s Cabooses is a bed and breakfast comprised of two modified, air-conditioned cabooses, with a private “Hobo Holler” campfire area. Odd sight: cabooses on a rural road, in the woods,

Route 66

Carthage:

  • Alice in Wonderland Statue – Bronze Alice steps out of the pages of her book, her eyes on the key embedded in a paving stone in front of the statue.
  • Crapduster – This freak flying machine is made of an antique manure spreader fitted with biplane wings. 
  • Marlin Perkins Statue – The star of TV’s Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, honored in bronze in the town where he was born.
  • ☆ Precious Moments Park and Chapel – Sprawling, multi-million-dollar complex attracts collectors of the big-eyed angel statuettes, but all fanatics are welcome to a one-of-a-kind recreation of the Sistine Chapel painted with Precious Moments
  • ★ Red Oak II – Transplanted Town – Lowell Davis has moved an entire pioneer Missouri town from its original site, 25 miles away, and reassembled it as Red Oak II. Heralded by roadside Burma Shave-style signs, the buildings there have been preserved as a credible replica of a crossroads town, circa 1929, and include an antique Phillips 66 gas station, a general store, a blacksmith’s shop, a feed store, a town hall, a one-room school house, an old country church, and a cemetery. The town also includes a streetcar diner, Belle Starr’s home, and the oldest surviving Standard Oil gas station from Route 66.
  • Tire Changing Woman – Jackson Tire of Carthage. Rusty pickup truck up on a platform advertises a tire shop with a grinning man at the wheel and a grimy woman changing the tire.

Conway: Rest Stops: Route 66 in Miniature – The Interstate 55 Missouri Route 66 Welcome Center Rest Area is an awkward tribute when you think about it. Its whimsical picnic shelters — small-scale replicas of classic Mother Road signs and structures — are also cenotaphs to Route 66 businesses killed by Interstate 55: a Phillip’s 66 gas station, a diner, a barbershop, a barn with Meramec Caverns painted on it. Out front is a replica of the neon Munger Moss Motel sign in Lebanon, Missouri, always set to “Vacancy.”

Cuba:

  • 1870s Train Replica on a Wall – 3D rendering of an old train inset into a brick wall. Reminds everyone that before there was Route 66, there was the railroad.
  • Airplane on a Stick – Small private airplane on a low pole, in a grassy field, just off the road. Labeled with the town name
  • Cowcatcher Seat – The front end of a fake locomotive juts out of a painted-on-a-wall tunnel; its custom cowcatcher has a built in seat for photo-ops.
  • Oldest Continuously Operating Motel on Route 66 – The Wagon Wheel Motel has been in business since 1931. Vintage neon sign out front.
  • ★ Osage Trail Legacy Monument – A colossal Osage family heading west. Dad is 35 feet tall. The Crawford County Historical Society Museum at 308 North Smith St. displays several objects related to the Osage Trail Monument north of town. These include the clay model that was used as inspiration for the monument and a taxidermied grey wolf in the same position as the one on the monument. The museum also includes a Route 66 room, one-room schoolhouse room, and a room full of historic wedding dresses
  • ★ Route 66 Mural City – Cuba’s murals depict colorful scenes of the Civil War, Amelia Earhart, Bette Davis, and of course Route 66 businesses.
  • ★ Shoes of the World’s Tallest Man – Two of them, displayed in a shoe store, a size 37AA and 35AA. Robert Wadlow was the World’s Tallest Man, so maybe he wore the 35AA while he was still growing.

Devil’s Elbow: ☆ Devil’s Elbow Bridge – Old bridge has the distinction of being in a town with a weird name. A Route 66 shield stenciled on the pavement lets everyone know that it’s an important bridge.

Everton: Gay Parita Route 66 Sinclair Station – A 1934 gas station with impressive attention to detail. Restored by Gary Turner, who welcomed visitors with cold soda and autographed photos of himself. Gary died in Jan. 2015; the station lives on. No gas, but lots of Route 66 souvenirs.

Fanning: ★ Route 66 Red Rocker – Over 42 feet tall. Held the World’s Largest Rocking Chair record 2008-2015. Despite its demotion to number two, it’s still really big.

Jerome: Larry Baggett’s Trail of Tears Memorial – Folk art, Ozark-style; rocky creations and metaphorical statues. Larry’s self-portrait sculpture sits next to the entrance, offering a friendly wave to passers-by on Route 66. Larry died in 2003

Joplin:

Lebanon:

Marshfield:

  • George Bush Was In Our Parade – Outdoor mural. President H. W. Bush (#41) rode in the Marshfield July 4th parade in 1991, “the longest-running Independence Day parade west of the Mississippi.” The mural works in Route 66, local historic buildings, and the Hubble space telescope
  • Hubble Telescope Replica – Edwin Hubble was born in Marshfield. The replica, which stands outdoors, on a pole, is a good one.

Miller: Hangar Kafe – Eat at a Farm Airfield – A family of cropdusters has opened a cafe on their farm airfield — benefiting from the close proximity of ground-bound travelers on Route 66.

Pacific:

Rolla:

  • ☆ Stubby Stonehenge – built at the former University of Missouri at Rolla Rock Mechanics and Explosives Research Center to showcase the stone carving capabilities of its High Pressure Water Jet Lab.
  • ★ Totem Pole Trading Post – A mom and pop store and gas station open since 1933; has moved a couple times as the old Route 66 was periodically adjusted.
  • ★ Vacuum Cleaner Museum – Trace the rise of the modern vacuum cleaner. Closed in St. James in April 2019; relocated to Rolla and reopened in a vacuum cleaner store in September 2019.

Spencer: Spencer’s Phillip 66 – On the side of the old, bypassed Route 66, a restored Phillips 66 gas station seems unoccupied.

Springfield:

  • ☆ Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World & ☆ Wonders of Wildlife
  • Bicycle Fence – Many dozens of old bicycles, with tires, linked fender-to-fender around the yard and driveway of a house.
  • Ed Galloway’s Lion in a Cage – Ed Galloway was a Springfield woodcarver, known in the early 1900s for his ornate furniture. Ed’s only known surviving artwork from the fire was a small lion in a circular cage, cleverly carved from a single sycamore stump.  Currently inside the Dickerson Park Zoo administration building.
  • ☆ Fantastic Caverns: Ride-Thru Cave
  • Getaway Golf – two 18-hole courses of famous landmarks
  • Muffler Car and Auto Parts Man – Gene Sneed took a 1973 Opel Manta, transformed it into car resembling a large, gray, auto muffler, then added a man built of normal-size car parts. Moved to current location Feb. 2018.
  • Muffler Man Chef – 2020 Mark Cline-made 25-foot-tall fiberglass Muffler Man “Carl” faces east, with a spatula, meat fork, and chef’s hat. Promotes a food truck park featuring a diner and a British double-decker bus along old Route 66.
  • Red’s Giant Hamburg Sign – Birthplace of Route 66 Roadside Park. Replica sign of the Route 66 restaurant thought to be the world’s first drive-thru; the place was bulldozed in the 1990s. Owner Sheldon “Red” Chaney misjudged the sign’s height, so the lettering for “hamburger” became “hamburg.”
  • Stand Where a Man Was Killed by Wild Bill Hickok – Springfield has embedded two brass disks in the Square; one marks where Hickok fired, one where Tutt fell. Both are scraped clean by countless feet. A plaque on the southwest corner of the square gives details of the duel.
  • USS Lapon – Sub Surfacing out of Grass – Featured in the N.Y. Times Bestselling book “Blind Man’s Bluff: The Untold Story Of Submarine Espionage” by Sherry Sontag and the subject of a television documentary
  • World’s Largest Fork – 35 feet tall

St. Robert: Jurassic Diner Dinosaurs – Part of assemblage of tourist shops next to Uranus Fudge Factory.

Uranus:

Waynesville:

  • Frog Rock – A large outcropping of rock alongside Old Route 66 between Waynesville and Saint Robert has been painted to look like a frog. There were “Frog Crossing” signs (until they were stolen), and the frog sports a Santa hat around Christmastime.
  • Giant Bowling Pin – This Giant Bowling Pin has stood outside the Buckhorn Bowling Alley for years.

Kansas City Metro

Blue Springs: World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade – Walking around the town of Blue Springs, you’ll see a placard on the sidewalk commemorating the World’s Shortest Saint Patrick’s Day Parade. It extended from one side of the street to the other. There is a sign on both sides of the sidewalk.

Fort Leavenworth

  • Frontier Museum – The Frontier Army Museum collects and preserves artifacts that tell the story of the Frontier Army from 1804 to 1916, and Fort Leavenworth from 1827 to the present.
  • Buffalo Soldier Memorial Park

Greenwood

  • Monkey Island – An animal sanctuary — depending on who’s found a more permanent home, you might see a spider, gibbon or capuchin monkey, along with lemurs, geese, ducks, and gators. Island visible from the road.

Leavenworth

  • CW Parker Carousel Museum – Saturday and Sunday, 1 PM – 5 PM
  • Richard Allen Cultural Center – opened in 1992 to honor African American history in Leavenworth, Kansas. Open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday and on Fridays from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
  • National Fred Harvey Museum – not open
  • Weston Red Barn Farm – https://www.westonredbarnfarm.com/
  • First City Museum – Thursday 1:00 PM – 4:30 PM

Independence:

  • 1859 Jail Museum – In use until 1933. Its most famous prisoner was Jesse James’ brother.
  • Grave of Jim Bridger – Mount Washington Cemetery. Famous mountain man.
  • ★ Jim Bridger Statue: Frontier Trails Museum – The statue stands in front of the National Frontier Trails Museum, which recalls the several key western trails whose departure points were in Independence.
  • ★ Leila’s Hair Museum – former hairdresser Leila Cohoon displays her impressive collection of human hair art, as well as hair samples from Presidents Lincoln and (maybe) Truman.
  • ☆ Swirly Rocket Ship Temple – Built at a cost of $35 million in the early 1990s. The ceiling of the sanctuary of this super-sized ice cream swirl is so high that you are asked to sit before you look up. Even though the Temple LOOKS kinda like a Mormon temple, it is in fact the #1 temple of the Community of Christ Church, which split from the Mormons some years ago (The CCC still holds to some Mormon beliefs).
  • ☆ Truman Presidential Library

Kansas City:

  • 25-Foot-Tall Steel Jesus – Divine Mercy Park. The 25-foot-tall stainless steel statue of Jesus.
  • ☆ 25-Ft. Tall Penguin and Kangaroo – Penguin Park. Fiberglass cartoon animals built for a kids playground in the mid-1960s are still in use today.
  • ☆ Air Roasted DC-3 Takeoff – Plane from 1943 — a DC-3 on an ascending steel frame runway on the roof of the Roasterie Coffee company.
  • ☆ Arabia Steamboat Museum – A merchant goods-loaded vessel sank on the Missouri River in 1856. The river shifted, became farm fields, and the farm family dug up the Arabia and built a museum around it.
  • Big Bull on a Pylon, Dedicated by Ike – In Mulkey Square Park, just north of the FBI building. In 1953 the American Hereford Association erected a big bull on a pylon, lit from within at night, in front of its new headquarters building overlooking the Kansas City stockyards. And it somehow convinced President Eisenhower to come to town to dedicate the bovine. It’s perhaps the only giant fiberglass creature ever blessed by a sitting President.
  • Big Green Head of Charlie Parker – Charlie Parker was a famous saxophonist, founder of bebop, and junkie. When he died in 1955 his hometown of Kansas City paid no attention, but 40 years later it paid tribute with a big green Charlie Parker head.
  • ☆ Big Spider Sculpture – Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. Numerous sculptures surround the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, including this large spider sculpture, with a smaller one climbing the museum’s outside wall.
  • Bonnie and Clyde Tourist Cabin Shootout –  a historical marker at Red Crown Tavern and Tourist Cabins
  • Buffalo Skeleton – Bronze by artist Marc Swanson of a skeleton walking the streets of Kansas City is named the “Descent of Civilization (Bison Memorial).”
  • Castle Northmoor – A stone tower, one-man castle built by Harlan Shaver from 1981-1983. Fantasy-style tower contains Shaver’s oil paintings of knights; spiral staircase leads to treasure chest. Knight in arbor out front.
  • ☆ Entire City Block of Giant Books – 22 book spines, 25 feet high, held in place by two glass elevator bookends. It’s a parking garage; the library is next door. 
  • Gates BBQ Tuxedo Man – A top-hatted gentleman briskly struts with a bag of fresh Gates barbecue in one hand.
  • Glass Labyrinth – Outdoor Maze of Glass – Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Seven-foot-high walls of one-inch-thick glass form a triangular outdoor maze — with only one way in and out. Designed in 2014 to be permanent.
  • Large Needle and Button – Commemorates the “garment district” in Kansas City.
  • Man with Shoe in Mouth – Sculpted by Terry Allen in 1994, officially titled “Modern Communication,” it depicts a businessman standing on top of a briefcase with a tie covering his eyes, a shoe in his mouth, and fingers in his ears. Many officials in Kansas City hate it.
  • ☆ Meals Delivered by Model Train – Fritz’s Railroad Restaurant. The trains run on tracks up near the ceiling; they drop your food onto a platform that descends to your table. Robot waiters, railroad style.
  • Mini-Baseball Diamond and Mural – Vacant lot turned into a miniature baseball diamond with a fake retro outfield fence; wall murals of Negro League baseball players and hometown hero John “Buck” O’Neil.
  • Missasoit, Great Sachem of the Wampanoags – statue of an underdressed New England Wampanoag, “Friend and Protector of the Pilgrims.”
  • ★ Money Museum: Truman’s Coins – Inside the Federal Reserve Bank. See a stack of $40 million in $100 bills. Lift a 27-pound gold bar. Among the souvenirs are bags filled with approximately $165 in shredded money. Also here: Harry Truman’s coin collection.
  • Mural: Superman of Kansas City – Michael Wheeler, senior citizen, called himself, “Super Runner For the Lord.” From 2011 to 2019 he was on the move around Kansas City in a home-made super-suit featuring a blue jersey with the Superman symbol, a red cape, and star-spangled socks. He sometimes carried a football lettered with “JESUS.”
  • ★ National Museum of Toys and Miniatures – The museum contains 38 galleries and over 10,000 marbles.
  • ☆ National World War I Museum –
  • ★ Negro Leagues Baseball Museum – Its centerpiece is its indoor Field of Dreams, where life-size bronze statues of Hall of Famers stand around a scaled-down baseball diamond.
  • Pirate Ship and Sea Monster – Sheila Kemper Dietrich Park. Children’s play park includes a concrete sea monster, motor boat (bitten in half?), and a pirate ship.
  • Rows of Headless Men – Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. D isturbing formation of 6-ft. tall fellows without heads. Thirty of them, in suits, rendered in bronze by Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz. The 1998 sculpture is in the museum’s Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park and is a permanent part of its collection.
  • Sidewalk Solar System Model – “Voyage: A Journey Through Our Solar System” is 1-to-10-billion scale model laid out along a terrestrial sidewalk through downtown Kansas City.
  • Star Wars At-At Walker Mailbox – Straight from the ice planet Hoth in “The Empire Strikes Back” (which is still the best Star Wars film). Homeowner Jason Hurst created the heavy duty metal mailbox after a drunk driver took out his normal one in 2014.
  • TWA Moonliner II – Rocket Ship – Full-size rooftop replica of the futuristic rocket that stood in Disneyland from 1955 to 1962.
  • The Workhouse Castle – A mid-sized medieval-looking castle that used to be a prison and poorhouse. Currently under restoration.
  • Walt Disney’s First Film Studio – Walt made “Laugh-O-Grams” here in 1922-23. Currently abandoned, but old-style cartoon murals are on the outside walls and windows of the building.
  • Watch Movies in a Bank Vault – The 1925 First National Bank is now the Kansas City Central Library. The giant vault in its basement has been converted into a small movie theater behind its 35-ton steel door.
  • World’s Fair Last Supper – Inside the Country Club Christian Church. Life-size Last Supper, carved from wood by Domenic Zappia, who died soon after it was put on display at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. Now in a glass-enclosed booth inside a church; an eight-minute audiovisual presentation tells its story.
  • World’s Largest Cap Gun – An incongruous, wild west-style toy cap gun is mounted above the door of a business, taking a bead on passing traffic.
  • World’s Largest Concrete Soccer Ball – At the entrance to the Western Missouri Soccer League fields. Not very large, and not even possible to see when the gates are closed.
  • ☆ World’s Largest Shuttlecocks – Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. They’re giant and they’re scattered across an art museum’s lawn.

Liberty:

  • China Slaughter, Crossing Guard – statue to a crossing guard and janitor.
  • Jesse James Bank Museum – Bank restored to how it looked on Feb. 13, 1866, when the Jesse James Gang pulled off its — and the nation’s — first successful daylight peacetime bank robbery. Historical plaque on outside of building, “Site of the First Daylight Bank Hold-Up in United States.”
  • Rhino Tombstone – Fairview Cemetery. A large rhinoceros sculpture marks the resting place of a child.

Lee’s Summit: Jalapeno Pepper Pilot – A real plane on a Mexican restaurant roof has a big pepper for a pilot.

Martin City: ☆ Steakhouse Steer – Jess & Jim’s Steakhouse. Fiberglass bovine stares from a high rooftop perch, a sign for a popular steakhouse that’s been operating since 1957 at this location.

St. Joseph:

  • Famous Bull Tombstone And Time Capsule – American Angus Association. Where does Angus beef come from? Prince Eric of Sunbeam. Pay your respects at his tombstone, and ponder what lies inside the adjacent time capsule.
  • ★ Glore Psychiatric Museum – This museum is amazing, horrifying, educational and touching. Use the bathrooms — they’re themed! Glore Psychiatric Museum is a great way to learn about the experience of mental illness/health, and the societal response through history. Expect to spend some time, as the exhibits are detailed and fascinating. There are attached museums dedicated to the history of St. Joseph, which includes a vast collection of Native American artifacts and the Black Archives.
  • ★ Ice Cream Cone Building – A Tastee Freez pre-fab ice cream-shaped stand features pink sugar cone walls, a swirl of vanilla soft-serve for a roof, with a cherry on top.
  • Japanese Tea House – Rich family’s private tea house, 1917, moved from the Wyeth Estate in 1984, to a fenced-in corner next to the Patee House Museum. Once was an ice cream parlor.
  • ★ Jesse James’ Corpse Basket – Funeral Museum – Heaton-Bowman-Smith and Sidenfaden Chapel Funeral Museum. This small museum occupies a back room in a large funeral home that used to be a 1960s supermarket. Among the dozen or so antique coffins and urns on display is the undertaker’s wicker basket used in 1882 to haul Jesse James’ body from his home (where he was murdered) to this funeral home, which was in business even then (although not in this building).
  • ★ Patee House Museum – The location is full of history: the Civil War, the Pony Express, the railroad, toys, and just about anything else you can think of is in this old hotel museum.
  • ★ Pony Express National Museum & Pony Express Motel Sign – Housed in the stables that were the departure point for ponies on the east end of the Pony Express. The motel is long gone, but the towering sign has been preserved as a vintage relic. Its neon Pony Express rider still gallops at night.
  • Walter Cronkite Interactive Memorial – In the atrium of Leah Spratt Hall on the campus of Missouri Western State University. Indoor exhibit explores the life of network TV news broadcaster and hometown hero Walter Cronkite. You can sit at an exact replica of his CBS-TV anchor desk and pretend to be Walter!
  • Where Jesse James Was Killed – Jesse James House. Wild West fans come from far and near to “see the bullet hole” which may or may not have been made by the bullet that took a shortcut through Jesse James’ head. Outdoor sign identifying the house still has “See the Bullet Hole” on it.

Weston

  • Weston Historical Museum – Free. Wednesday – Sunday, 1pm – 4pm
  • The National Silk Art Museum – Wednesday- Saturday 10am – 4pm 816-536-5955
  • Old River Landing –
  • Historic Weston Orchard & Vineyard –
  • Weston Brewing Company – dating back to 1842, it features a restaurant, a beer garden, an onsite brewery, and a pub 55-feet underground in an old stone cellar.
  • McCormick Distillery – the oldest distillery west of the Mississippi River still operating in its original location.
  • Farmers Market – City Parking Lot/City Hall Park – 7 am Saturdays
  • The Farmers House – store selling pies and jams for disability. 415 Main Street
  • Weston Winery tours

St. Louis Metro

Chesterfield:

Foristell: Muffler Man – Towering fiberglass woodsman waves from the corner of a salvage yard near the interstate.

Imperial: 15-Foot-Tall Bowling Pin – A large bowling pin alerts passers-by that a bowling alley sits next door.

St. Charles: Lewis and Clark and Seaman the Dog – Frontier Park. 15-foot-tall bronze sculptures by artist Pat Kennedy of the famous explorers and their Newfoundland dog, Seaman, along the Missouri River. Nearby, just south, is the Lewis and Clark Boat House.

St. Louis:

  • St. Louis Zoo
    • Monkey Man – St. Louis Zoo. A bronze statue of George Philip Vierheller who was the first director of the St. Louis Zoo.
    • Snake Man – For over 40 years Charlie Hoessle was a beloved reptile man at the St. Louis Zoo
  • Abraham Lincoln Slept Here – Small bronze plaque mounted to an outside wall just right of the main entrance to Gateway Tower. Small bronze plaque notes that pre-President Abe slumbered at Scott’s Hotel on October 27, 1847.
  • Announcer Jack Buck Monument – Just west of the centerfield entrance to the baseball stadium. Jack Buck was a Cardinals announcer 1954-2001, inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987. Statue off by itself under a green awning along the sidewalk.
  • Bevo Windmill – The 100-foot-tall Bevo Windmill, which is actually a beer hall, was built in 1916 by Adolphus Busch, halfway between his brewery and his house south of town, supposedly so he could stop and have a brewski on his way home from work. Currently closed and for sale for $1.5 million.
  • ★ Big Eyeball – Laumeier Sculpture Park. Seven feet tall and displayed at ground level, which makes it ideal for startling snapshots. Artist Tony Tasset created this big blue eyeball in 2007.
  • Big Wrench – built to draw attention to my small auto repair shop, Skyway Auto Repair. It’s 25 ft. long, 6 ft. tall at the ends and 10″ thick. It weighs about 1,000 pounds.
  • ★ Budweiser Brewery Tour – Making Buds since 1852, when they first started brewing in St. Louis. Tour includes the Clydesdale Stable, packaging plant, and sampling room.
  • Bull vs. Bear Death Match – 12 feet tall, weighs over four tons, and is officially named “Forces.” Sculptor Harry Weber said he worked hard to craft a death battle in which neither animal is winning. Unveiled on October 24, 2013, the anniversary of “Black Thursday,” which was the start of the Crash of 1929 on Wall Street.
  • Cheshire Lodge – Theme Room Motel – Aside from normal rooms, there is a subset of “Fantasy Suites” at the Cheshire Lodge, catering to adventurous families, honeymooners and special romantic interludes — including the Treehouse at Sherwood Forest, Safari Rain Forest, Ultimate Bate Suite, and the “T J Bordello.”
  • ★ Chocolate Factory Tour – Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Company. It’s a small factory, but it’s a real tour. You get to walk out on the production floor and smell the chocolate.
  • ★ Christman Studio and Sculpture Park – Odd array and pieces by artist Bill Christman, who gave St. Louis its giant turtles and the Beatnik Bob Museum at the City Museum. Mostly not open to the public, but you can see statues in the yard and out front, including a Big John in two pieces, a rocket, and a rooster.
  • Chuck Berry Statue – Larger-than life bronze of the rock legend playing his big electric-acoustic guitar, dancing across a brick pavement.
  • ☆ City Museum – Less a museum than the World’s Greatest PlayZone, with precarious places to climb and secret chutes to slide. Plus the World’s Largest Underpants, the World’s Largest Pencil, and Elvis Presley’s travel trailer.
  • Demo Man – In 2002 the owner of a wrecking company built Demo Man, a 20-foot-tall metal junk man swinging a sledgehammer.
  • Empty Suit – In downtown Citygarden Park. Completed in 2011 by Austrian artist Erwin Wurm, Big Suit corresponds to a men’s size 144. It’s big, pink, and empty, and it’s up on a pedestal so it must be art. Wurm went through a period where he made sculptures out of buckets, clothing, and dust, but Big Suit is just made out of aluminum.
  • ★ Flying Saucer Building – Originally a gas station, then a taco stand (the Del Taco Saucer), the ultra-modern Googie-style building is now a coffee shop and Mexican restaurant.
  • Giant Concrete Turtle Park – Nonthreatening giant turtles, designed with kids in mind. But the 40 ft. long snapping turtle by the late Bob Cassilly has a fierce jaw you can dangle from.
  • Giant Dinosaur – St. Louis Science Center. Inside the Science Center, one can find a giant dinosaur which roars and bends down as if about to scoop up its prey.
  • Giant Vess Soda Bottle – located is in a very derelict section of downtown. Giant bottle of Vess, The Billion Bubble Beverage.
  • Grand “Old White” Water Tower – 154-ft. tall Corinthian column built in 1871, used as a water tower until 1912, even though it looks like a colossal fancy column in search of a front porch.
  • ★ Griot Museum of Black History
  • HealthWorks! Kids Museum – Formerly Dental Health Theatre. Features an indoor jungle gym shaped like a de-fleshed human body, and a giant set of teeth, hung from the ceiling, that light up.
  • ★ Hollow Head – In downtown Citygarden park. Three-acre city park featuring many artworks, including a big, bandaged human head, hollow so you can peek out its eye holes.
  • ★ Jefferson Barracks Telephone Museum – Small but jam-packed museum covering the history of the telephone.
  • Lemp Mansion – Haunted Tours – Haunted beer baron home offers limited tours, a restaurant, a murder mystery theater, and a bed and breakfast.
  • Lewis, Clark, and Seaman the Dog – Bronze statue commemorate Lewis and Clark and Seaman the Dog’s return to non-Native civilization on September 23, 1806. Just north of the Gateway Arch, along the Mississippi riverfront. You can drive past it, but there’s no place to park. You’ll have to walk.
  • Looking Up: 33-Foot-Tall Alien – 33-Foot-Tall Tin Foil Alien is looking up as if he’s lost and hoping he might soon get a ride back home.  Outside James S. McDonnell Planetarium.
  • ★ Mile-Long Graffiti Wall – The graffiti-sprayers of St. Louis use a mile-plus stretch of Mississippi concrete flood wall as their always-changing canvas. At the east end of Chouteau Ave., at the riverfront, just south of the Arch and the I-55 bridge across the river.
  • Military Aircraft Junkyard – Small, fenced yard next to an auto body shop has junked military aircraft ranging from a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter to a Soviet MiG-17.
  • Muffler Car Parts Man – Dwight’s Muffler. Metal man made of discarded exhaust system parts, features distinctive curly toes and an air of confidence that inspires ailing cars.
  • Museum of Transportation: Bobby Darin’s Car of the Future – Lots of trains, but also some planes, a tugboat, a car powered by a jet turbine, and Bobby Darin’s car of the future. Several of the exhibits (including the tugboat) can be climbed aboard. Spread out over many acres, so be prepared to walk.
  • Nijinski Hare: Kung Fu Rabbit – Large bronze “Nijinski Hare” was sculpted by artist Barry Flanagan, and depicts a rabbit in mid-martial arts (or ballet) stance.
  • Planet Walk – Stretching several blocks along a city avenue, a scale model of the solar system extends from the Sun to Neptune.
  • St. Louis Walk Of Fame – Over a hundred large brass stars laid over a 3-block stretch note the famous and important who have some connection to St. Louis, including actors, athletes, singers, writers, inventors. You’ll also find The Rockettes (who started as the Missouri Rockets) and Masters and Johnson, the sex researchers.
  • Stag Beer Garage Door – A homeowner has painted a Stag Beer label on his garage door, which complements the solid mahogany hand-carved Stag Beer bottle on his front door.
  • ★ Talking Ben Franklin at Money Museum – Newman Money Museum. is in the basement of the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University.  Mr. $100 Bill is your welcoming host to the Newman Money Museum.
  • Ten-Foot-Tall Pinocchio – a ten-foot-tall bronze Pinocchio stretches his arms skyward as he stands atop a wheeled cart. The statue, in a pleasant urban park, conveys the joy of being alive.
  • The Billiken – the Billiken resembles the spawn of Buddha and a goblin. The monstrosity is the Saint Louis University’s mascot, and its statue sits atop a pedestal next to the Chaifetz Arena. 
  • ★ The Red Tower – One of only seven surviving brick water towers in the U.S. (another is only three blocks away). Formerly there were 500. Basically a giant vertical pipe with a medieval-looking exterior. Built in 1886.
  • U.S. Grant’s Log Cabin – Grant’s Farm. Ulysses S. Grant built this cabin (named “Hardscrabble”) mostly by himself on his small farm in 1856, then moved his family into it. he Busch family (of Anheuser-Busch) bought Grant’s Farm as a country estate and now operate it as a combination safari park and beer garden.
  • ★ Wax Museum of St. Louis – Presidents, biblical figures, celebrities, and a two-basement Chamber of Horrors. Misunderstood by those who want every wax museum to be like Madame Tussauds. Also known as Laclede’s Landing Wax Museum. On the downtown riverfront at the Laclede’s Landing pedestrian mall.
  • Whispering Arch – The Whispering Arch is part of the original architecture of Union Station.  The arch at the entrance of Union Station possesses unusual acoustic properties.
  • ★ World’s Largest Amoco Sign – A sign of colossal scale perched on the roof of a down-to-earth gas station. A giant gas sign of some sort has been on this roof since 1932. The sign was updated in late 2019, but it looks pretty much as it has since the 1970s. Current sign is 40 feet high and 60 feet wide.
  • ★ World’s Largest Chess Piece – World Chess Hall of Fame. 20-foot-tall chess piece stands in front of the Hall of Fame, which honors players from Bobby Fischer to Ben Franklin. The chess piece was unveiled in 2018; it replaced a 15-footer unveiled in 2012.
  • World’s Largest Man-Made Moon – Perched eight stories high atop the Moonrise Hotel, but you can take an elevator to get closer. You don’t have to be a guest at the Moonrise to take a trip to the moon — a quick elevator to the rooftop will do. It’s really a nice view of the city.
  • Wreckage Of The USS Inaugural – Decommissioned World War II minesweeper was a museum 1968-1993, then a storm dragged it down river and sank it. The rusting hulk is still visible.

Weldon Spring: ★ Nuclear Waste Adventure Trail – Weldon Spring Site. This mound is part of the clean-up of nuclear and other weapons production, which took place early to later in the last century. A very informative museum, which appears to be run by the federal government, is located there. The view is breathtaking from the top of the seven-story-tall nuclear waste pile.

References