This was an excellent place for me to learn more about Appleton and its rich history. The different exhibits greatly showed Appletons history in different facets like its people, customs, and traditions. The lower level exhibit about how businesses ran in the old days brings a sense of how fast things have progressed since then. Also the Bridging the Gap area was also enlightening on how America as a country is progressing intellectually.
Current displays are so very interesting and diverse. Super assortment right now. Just fascinating.
Great exhibits. Love the gift shop... has lots of local made gifts and reasonably priced. I suggest shopping there for holiday and special occasion gifts even if your not visiting the museum. Old Masonic Temple. Houdini DID!
This place has some amazing facts...check it out
Loved the place! worth the visit! awesome discounts!
Great interactive exhibits. Interesting to learn about Houdinis rise to fame. Expensive entry fee, but how else are they going to maintain that building?
It was nice for a small museum. The aka Houdini exhibit was fun, but about half of the interactive displays were broken. I would consider coming back if there was a temporary exhibit that intrigued me.
Decent place, not the most interesting museum but it had some good exhibits, specifically the Houdini floor.
Wonderful exhibits. Hands on exhibits made it super intriguing for the kids as well as the adults. Informative and educational. Highly recommend this museum when visiting Appleton.
Very interesting, learned a lot.
Was very happy that it is wheelchair accessible. I do feel the entry fee was somewhat high for the size but it was a fun experience and for preservation of history. The Houdini Exhibit was fun for adults too.
Fun, interactive exhibits. Plenty to do and learn here! Plus they offer student, family, and elderly discounts. Worth the $5.
Only got to see the outside since its only open on weekends. I only there during the week
Cool place to check out
Very limited displays. Mostly pictures with accompanying descriptions. I like to see more artifacts rather than photos. Not a lot of information on each subject, just a brief summary.
An excellent learning of history for me! Houdini exhibit is very very good. I learned not only Houdini the magician but Houdini the life of. Several interactive displays. I learned how to break out of jail Houdini style and then even perform it in a life size jail cell.The Asylum exhibit is top notch. So many artifacts from that time period are displayed. There are replications of rooms, descriptions of treatments, stories of patients.Top that off with an app to use throughout the tour! This tour is a must when you are in the area. This tour is a great get away day.
Wonderful Houdini exhibit. We also visited during a special guitar exhibit was set up. Amazing. Interactive. Expensive.
My wife Renee decided that instead of giving a physical gift for my birthday she would take me on an experience adventure & this was one of the places she had on her docket. Thoroughly enjoyed the museum & was able to check out the NFL Hall of Fame traveling exhibit in March. It was a lot of fun!!
Great guitar exhibit. My dad knew most of the artists and guitars. Even met Bob Bennedetto!
The hands on parts of the houdini museum is amazing to kids. Adults might be more interested in the historical narrative. Wonderful, classic space for rotating exhibits. Allow plenty of time.
Learned a lot about Houdini, a very interesting man. Traveling NFL Hall of Fame exhibit was quite impressive.
A little short on displays but loved the Harry Houdini exhibit.
Loved all of the Harry Houdini artifacts
Super cool houdini exhibit and a lot of hands on activities!! Highly recommend!!
Worth the stop if you want to see some of Houdini’s stuff and they had a great guitar exhibit as well. A little pricy but for a museum ok. The place is kinda cool inside and out and you have the small town atmosphere outside .
Very interesting place
Sentimental Memories we got marrried when it was the Houdini Museum. 2nd floor Pipe Organ w small stage was perfect for the ceremony and for a quiet place to sit down, eat & visit. The downstairs room w historical stained glass hangings was perfect for the loud dancing room. The elevator assisted elderly & challenged to go easily between the areas. Paying extra our guests could tour the museum as our guests between ceremony & reception. Best compliment was from my new elderly Grandma who said I have been to a lot of weddings over the years ~ this really was nice to have a place to talk that we could hear eachother. I stayed WAY later than I normally would have. Thank You for thinking of us old folks She always was a straight shooter ~ said what she thought NO MATTER what so I knew she meant it.
Has a mixed bag of remnants/ souvenirs from Harry Houdini and others. Not easy to find though
Very fun and informative, great place to bring your kids
I went to the museum last week just before the traveling NFL Hall Of Fame exhibit closed. Having visited the HOF in Canton, OH twice before in the 1990s and 2000s my visit this time still did not disappoint. With two floors of space, there was lots of new, interesting things to see about the history, players and officials of the NFL. Great stuff and it was great that the museum could snag this exhibit.Other things to see were the permanent Houdini display on the third floor and, in the basement, a local history set up of which I have been there and done that.Interesting is the new exhibit of former area toy manufacturers and in general, toys through the years. You could sit through almost an hour of old black and white and color TV commercials of kids toys from the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s. Neat.Also in the basement there is a huge N-scale model railroad layout roughly depicting the Appleton area. Cool. I wonder when they run it.The admission price was pretty steep at $10, so if you have a family it could be a costly visit. So you may want to wait until there is an exhibit opening that you really want to see.
Went to traveling NFL Hall of Fame display and visited the rest of the museum. I was surprised there wasnt more on the first house in the world to have electric light bulbs which is Appleton, WI - that seems like something of a grand distinction to me. Nice Houdini display though! Also old toy display was well done. Compliments to the museum overall.
Not free!! It cost us $40. For 2 adults and 4 kids. Houdini exhibit was just ok. That was the point of our trip. Large guitar exhibit that we did not care about. Smaller history exhibit downstairs that was ok.
They had a large exhibit on the history of the guitar that was fascinating. Also, a very good exhibit on the life and times of Harry Houdini
Very nice afternoon visit. Love the old feeling of the building even down to the floor creeks and the old bathrooms on the lower level. Very interesting display on asylums in Wisconsin. We also enjoyed the homeless in Wisconsin display. We found it very informative. We also really enjoyed the Houdini exhibit, lots of fun interactive things to try out.
Love this place! Great info on the local history, cool displays on different topics and then theres the walking tours. You can learn the history of College Avenue bars, haunting history of Appleton, etc. Its so cool, highly recommend checking them out
Cool to see all there was. Guitars were my favorite.
Went to see the Pro Football Hall of Fame Gridiron Glory exhibit. They have 7 semis of items on display from the HOF. Incredible display. Lots of historic items. Interactive displays with touch screens. Multimedia exhibit with clips of historic moments in NFL history. This is the only NFL sanctioned display in the U.S. It is a Must See. Will be there until 6 Jan 2019.
History is an important part of society in a whole today. We need to be able to reflect, respect and remember what history is all about. They do it great justice to bring certain history pieces back to life. Its a learning, exploratory opportunity for all walks of life.
Not your usual small town history museum! It is currently (summer 2018) featuring a fun traveling exhibit from the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Its called Gridiron Glory. Theres also a nice exhibit about Harry Houdini, who spent some of his early years in Appleton.The museum is in downtown Appleton and close the the beautiful campus of Lawrence University.
Interesting displays. Lots of interactive pieces. Good for children.
Very nice exhibits, though the Houdini exhibit was small, and seemed geared much more towards young children. Still offered interesting facts about the man and his tricks, but guess we were expecting a little more. Beautiful building with a giant mural painted on the side.
This place is very interactive with a lot of things to do. From building houses with Linkin logs to playing the guitar. It is kinda expensive but if u stay there long enough you get your moneys worth. The three main attractions are guitars, old toys, and Harry Hudini. If your not into that I think you should go there.
Absolutely beautiful!!! Im so happy I stopped in to take a look! I
This is a fantastic little museum. The building itself has a lot of history as it used to be a Masonic lodge in the early 1900s until the early 80s. The museum staff is all volunteers as far as I understand and all the staff I interacted with is very friendly and knowledgeable about the museum. The exhibits in the museum rotate besides the awesome Houdini exhibit which is an interactive hands on exhibit. The cost of admission is a good price for all the content. I was a little disappointed that the Joseph McCarthy exhibit was not larger but all the other exhibits were rather interesting. Depending on how much time you spend on reading in each exhibit you can easily spend a few hours here. Definitely check this place out if you need to kill some time and want to learn while doing so.
Very interesting exhibits and lots of hands on activities to keep kids interested.
This is a must see for any guitar fans or players out there!
I found it to be very interesting.
Difficult to navigate in a wheelchair. Our nursing home residents had an outing here. It was hardly wheelchair accessible. The elevator shuts on you after 3 seconds (not an exaggeration), there is no door hold so I had to awkwardly position my body over the first wheel chaired person in the elevator to hold the door manually while another wheel chaired person rolled in. If this was not done, the elevator would close on them which is hurtful to the elderly and fragile in wheelchairs. The incline in the basement area was so steep that it took muscle and going backward with a wheelchair to get up and when going down was so hard and fast it hurt the tailbone of the resident I was with. The football exhibit was good but I wish there was more than one room of the toy exhibit which was a favorite of everyone. The staff was super friendly and apologized about the elevator stating its been like this for a while and they dont know how to get it fixed. I hope this post will help make that happen as well as grading those very steep ramped inclines in the lower level.
It was a lot to learn
Great NFL Hall of Fame traveling show. $10 to get in. Also the Houdini Museum was fun to see.
Enjoyed the guitar exhibit played out nice presented nice
All says a fun and unique experience. A little pricey though.
One of the worst, if not THE worst museums Ive ever been to. Old, out dated exhibits, little details, not engrossing at all. The museum in sturgeon bay is far better, and it is free... Not this one for $15. The Houdini museum part is old, broken, boring. The local history area is a small room in the basement. You can just skip this place
Great in depth. Rotating exhibit. Good football stuff
Great small museum in the Heart of Appleton. Its great for something to do with the family for the afternoon. Quite an eccentric mix of displays.
This museum was nice. Not alot to explore but enough to keep us entertained.
I was disappointed I wanted to tour the whole castle and look out over the town. Some things were neat to see but not worth $15 I would not go back again.
Went here for the travelling NFL Hall of Fame exhibit. I found that particular exhibit to be somewhat limited in scope for a $15 admission but Im sure it cost a small fortune to get that exhibit - thus, the cost of admission. Im not about to downgrade The Castle because I was a bit disappointed in the NFL Hall of Fames exhibit.
Gridiron exhibit was fascinating. Enjoyed the Housing exhibits as well. Disappointed in the basement exhibits. Several listening devices were broken.
Nice building! Small museum!
Very misleading ad for Halloween treat waste of 12 dollarsThanks!
Cute but small and not my style! Go to the kids museum down the street!
Visited the Asylum exhibit recently. The staff was very knowledgeable and helpful and the exhibit was great. Lucky to have this museum in Appleton.
What a great community asset! The exhibits are well done and maintained. The history walks are educational and entertaining and the curators are knowledgeable and approachable.
Gridiron Glory was excellent.Houdini exhibit is so-so.
Be sure to check if they are open before going it took us 3 visits before we got to see the museum.
It was amazing and the sports special exhibit was exciting.
Fantastic exhibits. Just right!
Awesome NFL Hall of Fame exhibit right now
For a small local museum this place was pretty cool. The building itself is super awesome!! They had 4 exhibits, and 3 of those were a very good size, and mx of information, artifacts, with a little bit of interactive parts. The toy exhibit was not worth walking into, but the other 3 were super cool! I would visit again, after the changing exhibit flipped. Not a great place for very young children due to the lac of interactive opportunities. Great price, and friendly staff. Stairs between floors, and I am unsure if an elevator is available.
Best downtown Appleton experience!
Nicely produced exhibits. One can spend a satisfying couple of hours there, making the price of admission well worth while.
Nice little museum in Appleton. Learned some interesting things and enjoyed the atmosphere a lot.
Football Hall of fame was there and it was great to see some artifacts.
Visit museum for GRIDIRON GLORY, football fans will need to check this out!
Nicely done, definitely geared for children. Good way to spend an hour or two.
Take this with a grain of salt. Im not interested in mental health, Houdini, or classic toys, so perhaps I should not have gone. Its well done if those are your interests. I think it will be difficult to appeal to a wider audience with such an odd combination.
Great experience! Worth the money, trip and time.
Interesting interactive displays. Especially enjoyed the old toys display.
Really was disappointed with the upkeep of theyre more permanent features and for not being a huge fan of football but yet expected to pay the price for one exhibit that I had no interest in.
Great historic museum with lots of great exhibits to see.
It was kind of fun. Has a few hands on activities for all ages.
Interesting, but very limited collections.
Great museum for the whole family.
Football part was so good, grandkids loved all of it
Nice place clean and no nice exhibits. Fun afternoon.
Cool hands on exhibits. The current rotating exhibit is excellent. Avoid the downstairs, not interesting at all.
The Houdini Exhibit is amazing!
Great! The people were very friendly and helpful. Three floors of exhibits. The Houdini exhibit is very interactive. Allow at least an hour, maybe more.
Always great family fun visiting the Houdini exhibit and the toys of course but the changing exhibits never fail to thrill me and my kids every year!
It was an amazing experience! The Hudni part was awsome, loved it because you could interact with some of it
The museum itself is reasonably priced and fun. The Houdini part is interactive and the kids enjoyed it very much. Overall, I feel the price and the experience is worth it. My only complaint is the lady at the front desk who belittled my autistic 8 year old child for not knowing his zip code. Just because a person looks normaldoesnt mean they dont have a disability. So the judgement about his upbringing and intelligence was not a welcoming factor. The funny part about it is that I used her lecture about how people could send him letters using his zip code in the mail (welcome to the age of text messages, lady) in the part of the exhibit where you have to use old school home telephones to listen to information about peoples professions back in the day. She may have meant well, but it doesnt hurt to get with the times either.
Wonderful experiences for lifelong learners of all ages.
Nice way to kill an hour or so. The exhibits are nicely done
Great display, but staff doesnt know password to connect to Wi-Fi to fully enjoy experience...
Interesting exhibits at a good price. Excellent historical building
If you love football, the new display is really good