About Independence MO

Top attractions

The City of Independence is well noted for hosting a wide variety of annual festivals and events. One of the most prominent of which is the Santa – Cali – Gon Days that commemorate Independence’s heritage as the departing point of the Santa Fe, Oregon and California Trails. Another fascinating event in the City of Independence is the Vaile Strawberry Festival, which is hosted in the 1st Saturday of the month of June at the Vaile Mansion. There is also the Independence Heritage Festival that celebrates the cultural diversity of this Missouri city. 

Independence is as well home to a number of regionally renowned museums. First of all, there is the National Frontier Trails Museum that is a museum devoted to the history of the overland trails and the eventual settlement of the American West. As such, the City of Independence hosted thousands of settlers, pioneers, soldiers and merchants as they made preparations to cross the plains along the Santa Fe, Oregon and California Trails. The National Frontier Trails Museum provides films, a kid’s activity room, artifacts, journal entries, maps, covered wagons together with many other attractions. 

Independence also boasts of the Harry Truman Presidential Library and Museum that is touted as the best presidential museum in the country. The Truman Library provides theatre, a museum, interactive exhibits and a Decision Theatre. The museum in particular is home to a colorful mural by Thomas Benton and a replica of the Oval Office. The courtyard of the Harry Truman Presidential Library and Museum features the resting place for President Truman, his wife and their daughter. The Harry Truman Presidential Library and Museum is dedicated to educate visitors of the key world shaping decisions President Truman made when he served as president. It also offers a close up look at his personal life. The bottom level of this presidential library offers an area where kids can dress up like Truman and his wife, participate in an interactive computerized race, sort mail, create campaign buttons and posters and more exhilarating activities. 

The City of Independence is as well home to the Leila’s Hair Museum that is a museum of Victorian age art of hair jewelry and wreaths. The Leila’s Hair Museum is thought to be the only museum of its kind in the entire globe. It comes complete with more than 6000 hair wreaths and 2,000 objects of hair art and jewelry crafted with human hair. There is also the Puppetry Arts Institute, which boasts of hundreds of puppets and marionettes sourced from all across the planet. The Puppetry Arts Institute also features a collection of remnants of the world’s biggest puppet factory that was owned and run by the famous puppet maker Hazelle Rollins. Visitors to the Puppetry Arts Institute can go through a puppetry resource library and view changing displays. On the other hand, kids can get to pick a puppet head, attach a body, and ultimately stage an impromptu performance at one of the several stages to be found here.

The city of Independence is also home to the Harry Truman National Historic Site that enables visitors to see home the former president and his family lived in the simple, but comfortable ‘Summer White House.’ There is also the 1859 Jail Marshall Home and Museum whose dungeon like cells held thousands of prisoners over the course of the bloodiest period of the history of Jackson County. Some of the exhibits on show here detail how the local marshall and his family lived in their Federal Brick 2 story home. There is also an 1870 era schoolhouse and a museum. 

The City of Independence as well boasts of the Vaile Mansion, which is a 31 room mansion that was constructed by frontier businessman Harvey Vaile. The Vaile Mansion is widely considered to be a fine instance of 2nd Empire Victorian architecture in the country. The lavish estate comes complete with conveniences like flushing toilets, an in-built 6,000 gallon water tank painted woodwork and ceilings and a grand total of 9 marble fireplaces. There is also the LDS Visitors Center that outlines the critical role played by the Latter Days Saints during the early period of the city’s history. The LDS Visitors Center offers a theatre, sacred works of art and a meditation garden. It also provides flat screen presentations depicting the arrival of early Latter Days Saints and their pioneer lives. The LDS Visitors Center as well provides rare artifacts and exhibits, which document the history and beliefs of modern day Latter Days Saints.

Harry Truman Presidential Library and Museum