History Museum on the Square

One of the museum's marquee exhibits covers the July 21, 1865 shootout between Wild Bill Hickok and Davis Tutt on Park Central Square — directly outside the museum's current location. The shootout is generally credited as the first "quick-draw" duel in the American Wild West and is one of the most thoroughly documented gunfights of the era. Hickok and Tutt, both Civil War veterans living in Springfield in the immediate post-war period, quarreled over gambling debts and a personal disagreement involving a pocket watch. They met on the square at approximately 6pm on July 21, 1865; Tutt fired first and missed, Hickok returned fire at a range of about 75 yards and struck Tutt in the chest, killing him instantly.

The Hickok exhibit includes archival documents from the subsequent trial (Hickok was charged with manslaughter and acquitted on grounds of self-defense), period photographs of Park Central Square in the 1860s and 1870s, and interpretive panels about the broader Wild West cultural mythology that grew up around the event. Hickok left Springfield shortly after the trial and continued his career as a frontier scout, lawman, and gambler before his death in Deadwood, South Dakota in 1876.

Beyond the Hickok shootout, the museum's Wild West gallery covers Springfield's role as a frontier commercial center in the 1860s through 1880s — cattle drives, railroad construction, frontier banking, and the gradual transition from frontier town to established commercial city. Springfield's pre-Route 66 history is the kind of substantive Wild West content that makes the museum a worthwhile stop even for visitors whose primary interest is the Mother Road era.

Springfield was one of the most contested cities in the Civil War's western theater. The Battle of Wilson's Creek, fought on August 10, 1861 just southwest of Springfield, was the second major battle of the Civil War (after Bull Run) and the first major Civil War engagement west of the Mississippi River. The battle was a Confederate tactical victory but produced enormous casualties on both sides; Union general Nathaniel Lyon was killed in the battle and became the first Union general to die in combat during the war.

The museum's Civil War gallery covers Wilson's Creek and the broader 1861-1862 campaign in southwest Missouri with substantive depth. Exhibits include period weapons (rifles, sabers, and artillery shells recovered from the Wilson's Creek battlefield), uniforms from both Union and Confederate units that fought in the region, archival photographs and maps of the battle and the subsequent occupation of Springfield, and personal effects of soldiers from both sides. The Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, operated by the National Park Service, is about 10 miles southwest of the museum and is the natural follow-up stop for visitors interested in deeper Civil War content.

Springfield changed hands multiple times during the war and was the site of substantial guerrilla warfare between Union forces and Confederate irregular units (sometimes called "bushwhackers") through 1864. The museum's exhibits cover the civilian experience of the war — civilians caught between competing military factions, the destruction of property and economic activity, and the slow post-war rebuilding through the late 1860s and 1870s.

The museum's Route 66 gallery is the substantive complement to the more compact Route 66 Springfield Visitor Center exhibits three blocks east on St. Louis Street. The gallery covers the April 30, 1926 telegram naming Route 66 with original documents, period photographs of Park Central Square and the nearby telegraph office, and interpretive panels about Cyrus Avery, B.H. Piepmeier, and the federal highway numbering process.

Beyond the founding-moment exhibits, the Route 66 gallery covers the highway's commercial peak in the 1930s through 1960s with archival photographs of Springfield's Route 66 corridor — vintage filling stations along Glenstone Avenue and St. Louis Street, the original Steak 'n Shake on East St. Louis Street (founded in 1934, still operating today as the chain's flagship location), neon-signed motor courts, and the various roadside businesses that grew up along the Mother Road. Several original Route 66 highway signs from various decades are on display.

The decline of Route 66 in the 1970s and 1980s — as Interstate 44 replaced the original highway alignment through Missouri — is covered with substantive material on the broader cultural shift away from the Mother Road and toward the federal interstate system. The 1985 federal decommissioning of Route 66 and the subsequent grassroots Route 66 preservation movement that emerged in the late 1980s and 1990s round out the gallery's chronological coverage.

The museum's modern Springfield gallery covers the city's 20th century beyond Route 66 — including its emergence as a regional commercial center, the founding of multiple nationally-significant businesses, and the city's contemporary identity. Steak 'n Shake was founded in Springfield in 1934 by Gus Belt as a hybrid restaurant concept combining steakburgers and milkshakes; the chain expanded rapidly through the 1940s and 1950s and the original Springfield location on East St. Louis Street remains operational today as a pilgrimage stop for Route 66 travelers and Steak 'n Shake enthusiasts.

Bass Pro Shops was founded in Springfield in 1971 by Johnny Morris, who began selling fishing tackle out of the back of his father's liquor store on Glenstone Avenue and gradually built the operation into one of the largest outdoor retailers in the United States. The Bass Pro Shops original store on Campbell Avenue in Springfield is now a destination retail attraction in its own right and is the direct corporate ancestor of the Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium (Morris's later museum project that opened in 2017 adjacent to the original Bass Pro store).

Modern Springfield is a substantial regional commercial center with a metropolitan population approaching half a million people. The museum's modern gallery covers the city's contemporary identity including healthcare (Springfield is the home of CoxHealth and Mercy Springfield, two major regional hospital systems), higher education (Missouri State University, Drury University, Evangel University), and the substantial Ozark tourism economy anchored by Branson 40 miles south and the various Springfield attractions including Wonders of Wildlife.

The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10am to 5pm. Closed Sundays and Mondays. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children ages 6-17, with children under 6 free; museum members and Springfield-Greene County Historical Society members are admitted free. Tickets can be purchased at the front desk on a walk-in basis with no advance reservations required.

The museum is located directly on Park Central Square in downtown Springfield, which is itself worth time on a Springfield visit. The square features a commemorative plaque marking the approximate location of the April 30, 1926 telegram that named Route 66, a statue and historical marker commemorating the Wild Bill Hickok-Tutt shootout, and various other markers covering Springfield's downtown history. The square is the venue for the annual Route 66 Birthday Celebration each spring and is a popular downtown gathering space throughout the year.

Plan 90 minutes to 2 hours for a focused museum visit covering all the major galleries. Visitors with deep interest in any particular era (Wild West, Civil War, Route 66) can easily spend 3+ hours. The combination of the History Museum on the Square (2 hours) and the Route 66 Springfield Visitor Center (90 minutes) typically fills a full half-day in downtown Springfield with substantial historical content.