Wornall/Majors House Museum

Wornall/Majors House Museum The John Wornall & Alexander Majors House Museums are among Kansas City's most historic structures! Majors would go on to co-found the Pony Express.

The Wornall/Majors House Museums manages two of Kansas City's most historic landmarks: the John Wornall House and the Alexander Majors House. These homes serve as the place for dynamic history educational programming related to the Civil War, early Kansas City history, transportation and communication on the frontier, and the lives of women and minorities in these homes. The Wornall House, built i

n 1858, was the farmstead home of a prosperous farmer. It later served as a field hospital during the Battle of Westport, often called the "Gettysburg of the West." The Majors House, built in 1856, was the headquarters for Alexander Majors' freighting firm, Russell, Majors & Waddell.

Before there was Pembroke Hill or Sunset Hill School, there was the Allen farm. The farm stretched from Wornall Road to ...
09/02/2026

Before there was Pembroke Hill or Sunset Hill School, there was the Allen farm.

The farm stretched from Wornall Road to State Line through Brush Creek, with orchards of peaches, apples, and cherries near 44th and W. 51st Street. Allen, a lawyer, Westport school principal, longtime member of the Westport Board of Education, and builder of the Westport library, raised 14 children here with his wife, Mary Ellen McGee.

Local legend also held that Santa Fe Trail travelers buried a pot of gold somewhere on the property. Allen reportedly woke up twice in the middle of the night to find “marauders” searching for it. No word on whether they found it.

Want to uncover more stories from the neighborhood’s past? Join us for the Loose Park Walking Tour on either September 16 or October 8 at 10 a.m. and explore the history tucked into one of Kansas City’s most familiar landscapes.

Tickets: https://wornallmajors.org/events/

Pictured: The Allen Home

Today is September 1, which means our favorite spooky staff member is here to announce that fall has arrived at the Worn...
09/01/2026

Today is September 1, which means our favorite spooky staff member is here to announce that fall has arrived at the Wornall/Majors House Museums!

Check out our lineup of fall events below, then visit our website for full details and tickets:
Secrets of Loose Park Walking Tour
Haunted histories: Paranormal Night at the Alexander Majors House
Spirits in the Halls: Paranormal Audio-Guide of the Alexander Majors House
Shadows of the Past: After-Hours Tours of the John Wornall House Museum
Victorian Macabre: History Spookeasy
Howl-O-Ween

Thanks to everyone who joined us for Drink Your History: Snake Oils to Soda. We loved getting to hear whether you though...
08/30/2026

Thanks to everyone who joined us for Drink Your History: Snake Oils to Soda. We loved getting to hear whether you thought the Fernet Branca was delicious, interesting, or tasted like bug spray.

Our next Drink Your History is Charles Dickens Christmas on Friday, December 4. Charles Dickens loved cocktails, and so does Director Sarah Bader-King, who is speaking. We promise the drinks will be interesting but with no notes of bug spray.

Get your tickets now for some early Christmas cheer: https://wornallmajors.org/events/drink-your-history-charles-dickens-christmas/

Less than 24 hours until Drink Your History: Snake Oils to Soda. Each day this week, we are highlighting a different pat...
08/28/2026

Less than 24 hours until Drink Your History: Snake Oils to Soda. Each day this week, we are highlighting a different patent medicine. Today's post is brought to you by one of the sponsors of tomorrow's soda roll Brookside Toy and Science

Each day this week, we are highlighting a different patent medicine, or in today’s case, a drink that began with some very medicinal ambitions. Today’s feature is Pepsi-Cola.

Grab your tickets while you can: https://wornallmajors.org/events/drink-your-history-from-snake-oil-to-soda-pop/

In 1893, New Bern, North Carolina, pharmacist Caleb Bradham began serving a carbonated drink from the soda fountain in his pharmacy. He called it “Brad’s Drink,” which may not have sounded quite as refreshing as the name that came later.

Bradham believed his sweet, fizzy beverage had health, energy, and digestive benefits. The original formula included pepsin, an enzyme involved in digestion, and kola nut. In 1898, he renamed the drink Pepsi-Cola, likely combining a nod to pepsin with the kola nut that gave the drink part of its flavor. Pepsin was eventually removed from the recipe, but the name stuck.

Bradham incorporated the Pepsi-Cola Company in 1902 and registered a patent for the formula soon after. By 1910, more than 300 bottling companies in 24 states were producing Pepsi-Cola. Not bad for a digestive drink served from a pharmacist’s soda fountain.

Of course, the road from medicine to soft drink was not entirely smooth. After World War I, fluctuating sugar prices, bottling problems, and poor marketing left Bradham’s company in trouble, and he was forced to sell it. Still, Brad’s Drink went on to become one of the best-known sodas in the world.

Drink Your History: Snake Oils to Soda is this Friday. Guests will be sipping drinks inspired by patent while enjoying a...
08/27/2026

Drink Your History: Snake Oils to Soda is this Friday. Guests will be sipping drinks inspired by patent while enjoying a talk about the wild and wacky history of snake oils.

Each day this week, we are highlighting a different patent medicine. Today’s feature is Peruna, the remedy for catarrh, or apparently, almost anything else that ailed you.

Dr. Samuel Hartman began selling Peruna and other medicines by 1885. He claimed that many common ailments, including headaches, stomachaches, coughs, and more, were caused by catarrh, an old-fashioned term for inflammation and excess mucus in the respiratory tract. Conveniently, Peruna was said to cure every form of it.

Peruna advertisements appeared everywhere, accompanied by endorsements from politicians, business leaders, and everyday customers. By 1905, Hartman’s Ohio operation was proudly described as “the greatest medicine plant in the world,” covering about seven acres of floor space. Nothing says medical confidence like a very large factory.

There was just one small catch. In 1906, journalist Samuel Hopkins Adams included Peruna in his Collier’s Weekly exposé of patent medicines, reporting that it contained 28 percent alcohol. Hartman later argued that criticism of the alcohol content was unfair, but it is safe to say that 28 percent alcohol probably made a few ailments feel less urgent.

Pictured: Peruna advertisement in The Lexington Dispatch on December 17, 1902. Image in the collection of the Library of Congress.

WMHM is counting down to our Drink Your History: Snake Oils to Sodas event! This Friday Guests will be sipping drinks in...
08/26/2026

WMHM is counting down to our Drink Your History: Snake Oils to Sodas event! This Friday Guests will be sipping drinks inspired by patent medicines, not our fault that a lot of them were mostly alcohol to start with, while enjoying a talk about the wild and wacky history of snake oils.

Each day this week, we are highlighting a different patent medicine. Today’s feature is Kickapoo Indian Sagwa, the “Blood, Liver, Stomach and Kidney Renovator.”

Kickapoo Indian Sagwa promised to cure just about everything: indigestion, constipation, headaches, rheumatism, jaundice, “impure blood,” female disorders, fever and ague, and basically any trouble involving the stomach, liver, kidneys, or blood. If that sounds like a lot for one bottle to handle, it was.

The company claimed Sagwa was a traditional Indigenous remedy made from roots, herbs, barks, gums, and leaves. In reality, the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company was founded in 1881 by two white businessmen with no connection to the Kickapoo Nation. Their supposed origin story, along with the claims that Indigenous healers had shared the product’s secret recipe, was created to sell medicine.

So what was in it? Sugary syrup, a laxative, and alcohol. Some versions also included ingredients such as rhubarb, capsicum, guaiacum, and sal soda. The product’s real strength was apparently its ability to get things moving.

The company took its sales pitch on the road with elaborate medicine shows, complete with performers, staged “Indian” encampments, and demonstrations of the miracle tonic. Sagwa’s name was registered with the U.S. Patent Office in July 1882, proving that even a questionable cure could have excellent branding.

More information at: https://wornallmajors.org/events/drink-your-history-from-snake-oil-to-soda-pop/

Pictured: Advertisement in The Ainsworth Star-Journal on Feb 09, 1893.
Bottle of Kickapoo Indian Sagwa in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution.
Advertisement in The Salt Lake Herald on Apr 15, 1903.

We have seen your Vitameatavegamin comments. Although we do love Lucy, Vitameatavegamin is not a real product, but Lydia...
08/24/2026

We have seen your Vitameatavegamin comments. Although we do love Lucy, Vitameatavegamin is not a real product, but Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound is.

WMHM is one week out from our Drink Your History: Snake Oils to Sodas event! Guests will sip drinks inspired by patent medicines while enjoying a talk about the wild and wacky history of snake oil.

Each day this week, we are highlighting a different patent medicine. Today’s feature is Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound.

Lydia Estes Pinkham began making home remedies in her Lynn, Massachusetts, kitchen in 1873. With the help of her sons, she began bottling and selling her Vegetable Compound in 1875. Made from black cohosh, life root, unicorn root, pleurisy root, fenugreek seed, and alcohol, it was marketed as a treatment for “female complaints,” including menstrual cramps, menopause symptoms, and later, infertility and kidney and ovarian diseases.

Pinkham said the alcohol was there to preserve the herbs. Her original recipe contained about 20 percent alcohol, though the formula had been reduced to 15 percent by 1906. That was the year the Pure Food and Drug Act required patent-medicine makers to list ingredients on their labels, making it a little harder to hide exactly what was in the bottle.

What set Pinkham apart was her marketing. Her portrait appeared on every bottle, presenting her as a kind and understanding grandmother who knew more about women’s health than the male doctors of the day. The company also invited women to write in with health questions and promised that no man would read their letters.

The advertisements became so well known that the product’s unofficial slogan was, “There is a baby in every bottle.” Nothing says patent medicine quite like herbs, alcohol, and a promise to solve every problem women might have. The compound is still produced and sold today.

Images in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution.

WMHM is one week out from our Drink Your History: Snake Oils to Sodas event! Guests will be sipping drinks inspired by p...
08/23/2026

WMHM is one week out from our Drink Your History: Snake Oils to Sodas event! Guests will be sipping drinks inspired by patent medicines, not our fault that a lot of them were mostly alcohol to start with, while enjoying a talk about the wild and wacky history of snake oils.

Each day this week, we are highlighting a different patent medicine. Today’s feature is Dr. King’s New Discovery for Consumption, Coughs, Colds, and Diseases of the Throat, Chest, and Lungs.

Sold by H. E. Bucklen & Company of Chicago, Dr. King’s New Discovery was marketed as a remedy for consumption, now known as tuberculosis.
The medicine was a mixture of morphine, chloroform, and alcohol. Adults were instructed to take a teaspoon every three hours, while infants were to receive 10 drops. Advertisements promised it would prevent coughing when lying down and ensure a good night’s sleep if taken before bed. With those ingredients, it certainly may have helped people sleep, but it was also a dangerous mixture for anyone, especially for those with weak lungs.

Samuel Hopkins Adams, whose Great American Fraud articles exposed the patent-medicine industry, called it “a pretty diabolical concoction to give to anyone, and particularly a consumptive.”

Pictured: Bottle of Dr. King's New Discovery in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution.
Advertisement in the Kansas City Post on Nov 10, 1920.
Advertisement in The Kansas City Times on Aug 05, 1886.

WMHM is one week out from our Drink Your History: Snake Oils to Sodas event! Guests will be sipping drinks inspired by p...
08/23/2026

WMHM is one week out from our Drink Your History: Snake Oils to Sodas event! Guests will be sipping drinks inspired by patent medicines, not our fault that so many of them were mostly alcohol to begin with, while enjoying a talk about the wild and wacky history of snake oils.

Each day this week, we are highlighting a different patent medicine. Today’s feature is Liebig’s Co.’s Coca Beef Tonic.

German chemist Justus von Liebig developed a concentrated meat extract in the 1840s, believing it could provide affordable nourishment for people who could not get fresh meat. It took about 30 pounds of meat to make one pound of the thick, dark paste. Later testing revealed it contained very little fat or protein, so it was not quite the nutritional powerhouse Liebig had hoped. The company eventually shifted to selling it more for flavor.

He also made it into a patent medicine called Liebig’s Coca Beef Tonic. The concoction combined meat extract, coca-leaf extract, cocoa for flavor, and alcohol. An 1887 Massachusetts State Board of Health analysis found it was 23.2 percent alcohol, so perhaps that helps explain why it was advertised as a cure for everything from a bad taste in your mouth to flatulency, malaria, liver complaints, hair loss and general exhaustion.

The company even enlisted famous actor Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes Booth, for its advertisements. His review was simple: “It did me good.”

Pictured:
Advertisement in The Kansas City Times on Oct 06, 1882.
Advertisement in The Kansas City Times on Sep 25, 1884.

WMHM is one week out from our Drink Your History: Snake Oils to Sodas event! Guests will sip drinks inspired by patent m...
08/21/2026

WMHM is one week out from our Drink Your History: Snake Oils to Sodas event! Guests will sip drinks inspired by patent medicines, because somehow many of them were mostly alcohol to begin with, while enjoying a talk on the wild and wacky history of snake oils.

Each day this week, we’re highlighting a different patent medicine. Today’s featured “cure” is Liquozone, formally known as Liquid Ozone.

According to a Liquozone promotional pamphlet, the “medicine” was created by Professor Pauli, “the great German chemist.” The company claimed that he spent 20 years facing poverty and ridicule while trying to discover how to liquefy oxygen so it could circulate through the blood.

When he supposedly “succeeded,” he created a medicine said to cure 37 different ailments, including dandruff, asthma, malaria, neuralgia, and tuberculosis. Liquozone claimed to be “deadly to vegetable matter but helpful to animals,” because, naturally, “germs are vegetables.”

So what was actually in the bottle? An analysis revealed it contained 1 percent sulfuric and sulphurous acid and 99 percent water. The science was, unsurprisingly, nonsense.

Learn more and join us for Drink Your History: Snake Oils to Sodas:
https://wornallmajors.org/events/drink-your-history-from-snake-oil-to-soda-pop/

Pictured: Liquozone advertisement in The Kansas City Times on Mar 07, 1904.
Liquozone advertisement in The Kansas City Star on Nov 26, 1903.
Advertisement from N.A.R.D. Notes, Vol. 4, no. 50, published by the National Association of Retail Druggists, 1905.
Liquozone bottle in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution.

Address

6115 Wornall Road
Kansas City, MO
64113

Opening Hours

Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm
Sunday 1pm - 4pm

Telephone

+18164441858

Website

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