Forest Park Museum has a unique combination of exhibits, similar, yet very different in flavor from the high-admission Living History Farms. It's a short drive north and west of the metro along Highway 141 at the south edge of Perry.
The Museum Complex includes a visitor center, two museum buildings stuffed with exhibits, a log cabin, a scale house (an office for weighing wagons of grain on a scale and recording those weights), and a one-room schoolhouse. The schoolhouse was the last one-room schoolhouse of Dallas County. (It opened in 1867 and closed in 1961. It was originally located one mile west of Perry and was moved to Forest Park Museum in 1964.) The most recent addition is the William Wagner Gallery, which holds much of his collection of history books and other things he thought may have historic value. Wagner was an architect and historic preservationist. His collection of pen and ink drawings of Iowa landmarks is fun to look at.
Wetlands and reestablished prairie with mown trails are also at the complex, which is shared with the Dallas Co. Conservation Board. All the buildings are handicapped accessible. There is a picnic table outside for families to use.
The visitor center has a few small displays and live animals. The museums show Dallas County history with exhibits dedicated to this non-comprehensive list: skating; trains; blacksmithing; life in the kitchen, barn, and nursery; barbed wire; guns; transportation; and seed corn. There are a couple hands-on activities, including a scavenger hunt, a quilting bee, and a "what is it?" poster. A special snake exhibit is currently on display that includes a walk-through snake skeleton. There are a multitude of other stand-alone artifacts, including Henry Nelson's "dynamo" (according to our guide, Thomas Edison called Nelson the "greatest inventor"), a 1950 Chevy truck, and an 85 lb. ball of string.
Forest Park Museum is FREE to the public and open Monday – Friday: 8:00 to 4:30, and seasonally, May 1 to October 31, Saturday, Sunday and Holidays from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m. The museum is open by appointment anytime. The Arboretum (outdoors) hours are from 8:00 to 10:00 PM daily all year long. There is no gift shop, but Wagner merchandise is available for purchase.
Families could easily spend half a day enjoying the facilities of Forest Park Museum.
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