The mission of the Wornall/Majors House Museums is to: preserve, protect, and maintain the John Wornall and Alexander Majors historic houses and their collections in an intentional, inclusive, and ethical way, and to preserve them so that future generations can have a tangible connection to nineteenth century Kansas City and beyond; and interpret and present the houses, the lives of all those who lived and labored in them, and the many important events and controversies of the Civil War era, in an honest, inclusive, and accurate way through public programming that engages and informs diverse audiences about our shared past and its legacies.
Institutional History
The John Wornall House was restored in 1964 by the Jackson County Historical Society. Prior to that time, it had served exclusively as a Wornall family residence, with one brief exception – it was used as classrooms for the Pembroke Country Day School for less than a year in 1909. The house was opened to the public as Kansas City’s first house museum in 1972 after extensive research and restoration. Management became autonomous from the Jackson County Historical Society in 1990.
The Alexander Majors House served as a family home to the Majors, Poteet, and Ruhl families until it was abandoned in 1924. Six years later, Majors’ great granddaughter purchased the house and began to restore it. After her death, the house was managed by the Alexander Majors Historical Trust, and it was opened to the public in 1984.
A New Beginning
Management of the two homes merged in 2011 to form one non-profit organization that preserves and protects these historic landmarks. The houses, both listed on the National Register of Historic Places, provide educational and community opportunities including public tours, hands-on summer camps, social events, educational lectures, holiday programs, and event rentals.
Our Vision
The vision of the Wornall/Majors House Museums is to use the history of the houses to foster a greater and more accurate understanding of our shared past.
We seek to share the histories of the individuals who lived and worked in the houses in an accurate, ethical, and inclusive manner, always cognizant of the fact the properties were sites of enslavement in a state and region where the threat and use of violence under color of state law denied enslaved individuals their freedom.
We also acknowledge that the houses were built on land that is the ancestral home of the Osage, Otos, Kansa, and Missouria peoples.
Through the interpretation of the historical sites and the stories they tell, we wish to foster a greater understanding of our shared past and engage in a robust conversation about this history and its legacies. By doing so, we wish to work to facilitate reconciliation in our community, racially and regionally, and to provide opportunities to experience history without barriers.
Photos: John Wornall, undated photo (Wornall/Majors collection); Enslaved children, Tennessee, 1860 (Randolph Linsly Simpson African-American Collection. James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection in the Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library); Bear Legs, Osage, 1906 (Library of Congress)