The Federal Reserve Money Museum

I had to work one Saturday, so my boss told me to take a day off  to make up for it.  Done and done.  It wasn't hard to decide what to do with the free day.  We went to KCMO to visit the Money Museum, since it is only open on weekdays.  We parked in the visitor parking lot, then went inside.  Nice security guards ask if you have knives, guns, bombs, or any thing of that nature.  We told them no, except for my pocket knife.  They let me keep it, but sent us all through the metal detectors anyway.  They said I looked like an honest guy, so I guess I can trust them.  Trust but verify.  So, after they verified by running my drivers license, they let us all in to the museum.  They really know how to roll out the red carpet and make ordinary folks feel welcome.

Once inside, we saw lots of information about the Federal Reserve.  But really there are four exhibits that are what the money museum is all about.  The first is the Truman Coin Collection.  It shows coins minted during the reign of each president of the USA.  The older coins were definitely the coolest.  They don't use gold or silver anymore, like they used to.  In fact, our government doesn't even trust its own currency. Don't believe me?  Go ahead and look on your tax form when you fill out your taxes before April 15th.  It says to not send cash.

The next one of the awesome exhibits is the gold bar.  The day we visited, it was worth nearly a half- million dollars.

The last two awesome exhibits are at the back of the museum.  Ever wanted to see what a million dollars cash looks like?  You can see it at the Money Museum!  It's a whole lot of paper!  The final awesome exhibit is the counting/sorting/warehousing of some of the money that goes through the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank. There were huge bags and bins full of money.  Some of $1s, $5s, $10s, $20s and bags of coins.  Then a computerized/robotized/lazer-guided automated forklift system that brought bins in and out of the ware-safe.  The forklifts were Huey, Dewey, and Louie.  I kept looking for the Mr. McDuck one, but never saw it.

On the way out we picked up a bag of cash.  Approximately $167 of shredded bills stuffed into a bag that fits into the palm of your hand.  Interesting and informative.

Nearest City: Kansas City, MO
Location: 1 Memorial Drive, Kansas City, MO
Time Needed: 1-2 hours
Difficulty: easy, except for the airport-like screening
Kid Friendly:
Additional Info: Kansas City Fed Money Museum