Current Displays
2020
  • Women Vote!
  • Excelsior’s CIA
  • 40 Years of Community Theater
  • Sisk Founding Family
  • And much more!
Future Displays
2021
  • Struggle for Statehood – Missouri Bicentennial Traveling Exhibit
  • Ancestral Trails (local companion exhibit)
  • The McClearys
  • Million Founding Family
2026
  • Sestercentennial (250th anniversary) of the United States
2030
  • Excelsior Springs 150th anniversary
Permanent Displays

Please be sure to view some of the features of the Bank and Francis Hotel while visiting the Museum.

Bank Ceiling
Bank Ceiling
Bank Vault
Bank Vault

The Museum was originally Clay County State Bank.
The vault door weighs 20,000 pounds and is so delicately balanced it can be moved with one finger.

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The Gleaners

The Angeluis

The Angelus

Murals

On the walls of the bank  are reproductions of two famous paintings - The Angelus (north wall above entry door) and The Gleaners (south wall above vault door). About 1919, Count Edmond deSzaak, who was stranded in our city, was commissioned to do these paintings. The Count was born in Budapest, Hungary. He studied art at some of the greatest educational and cultural centers of Europe, including Vienna, Paris, and Rome. The murals he painted in the Clay County State Bank are on canvas. They were never varnished over, consequently time has faded and dimmed the colors.

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Loom

The old loom in the Francis Hall was donated to the museum by Mr. and Mrs. Everett McCrory. Its was reassembled by Sam Sherwood, Luther Beatty and Otto Crowley, under the direction of Olive Johnston. Sherwood fashioned some of the missing parts. This type of loom is extremely rare.

Volunteers still weave rugs on this loom; call in advance to arrange a time to watch. The rugs woven on this loom are available for purchase.

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Military Room

The Museum has a room dedicated to military history. On display are military uniforms, military books, photographs, and a diorama of a World War I military battle. The Museum is currently collecting information from local veterans to add to its military data base. The military survey is available here.