9 Best Museums In Wyoming

For the least populous state in America, Wyoming has an uncanny knack for preserving a lot of history about dinosaurs, outlaws, artists, and firearms. With fewer than 600,000 people scattered across its sweeping plains and rugged mountains, you might expect tumbleweeds and silence. Instead, you’ll find nine world-class museums that rival those in cities ten times its size. From the grisly frontier prisoners in Rawlins, the grandeur of Buffalo Bill’s legacy in Cody, to the prehistoric treasures unearthed in Thermopolis and Laramie, the nine best museums in the Cowboy State prove that while Wyoming may be short on people, it’s long on legends.

Wyoming Frontier Prison Museum, Rawlins

When the Wyoming Frontier Prison first opened its 104 cells in Cell Block A in 1901, it was like something straight out of a Victorian hellscape with electricity, no running water, and little heat. During its 80 years in operation, the prison was home to approximately 13,500 inmates, including 11 women. After it closed in 1980, it was abandoned until the state of Wyoming restored it and opened it as a historic museum. The prison was notorious for using different methods of execution, including gallows used to hang nine men, and the “death house,” a gas chamber that saw five men executed by hydrocyanic acid gas.

Today, the prison is on the National Register of Historic Places, attracting 15,000 true crime fans, history buffs, and dark tourists, but it stands out as a grisly reminder of the lawless frontier days of the Old West. You can visit the museum for free, but you must book a guided tour to see the prison. Leashed dogs are welcome.

If you’re in the mood for more outlaw history and true crime, drop by the Carbon County Museum in downtown Rawlins to learn about one of Wyoming’s most famous outlaws, Big-Nose George, a notorious train- and stagecoach robber famous for attempting to rob a Union Pacific train near Medicine Bow. He was convicted, but after an attempt to escape from jail, he was caught by an angry mob and lynched.

Buffalo Bill Center Of The West, Cody

The Buffalo Bill Center of the West is more than a museum; it’s a complex of five distinct museums, including the Buffalo Bill Museum, the Plains Indian Museum, the bucket-list-worthy Cody Firearms Museum, the Draper Natural History Museum, and the Whitney Western Art Museum, which came second in Newsweek’s Readers’ Choice Award for 2025. In the eponymous Buffalo Bill Museum, learn about the man himself (William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody), a legendary folk hero and performer, who, along with sharpshooter Annie Oakley, toured across the U.S. and Europe as part of his famous Wild West Show. The Draper Natural History Museum is ideal for curious kids interested in the sights and sounds of Yellowstone, while the Plains Indian Museum will be popular with history buffs interested in Native American art and artifacts. The Cody Firearms Museum, the most comprehensive in the U.S., is home to more than 4,000 firearms and exhibits that explore their use in the American West, the military, and more.

The Center of the West can be enjoyed in two hours or over two consecutive days, especially if you plan to stay in the area, as tickets are valid for two days. So during the five-museum extravaganza, take a stroll down Sheridan Avenue in historic downtown Cody. Do some shopping at the Cowboy Palace, then head to Bubba’s Bar-B-Que, a local institution where everything is slow-smoked in a hickory-fired smoker. After lunch, head back to the museum and continue the tour.

Crook County Museum And 1875 Art Gallery, Sundance

The small town of Sundance, Wyoming, is home to the Crook County Museum and Art Gallery, located inside a spectacular historic school building with tons of character known as “Old Stoney.” Built in 1923, the building became a symbol of 20th-century optimism in the growing community, constructed of local sandstone from the Bear Lodge Mountains, as well as a rock from the Devils Tower National Monument. After serving as Sundance High School until 1972, the building fell into disrepair until the local district resurrected it and turned it into a museum. A local gem, the museum features 7,000 artifacts, showcasing the lives of Native American tribes, pioneers, and outlaw, Harry "Sundance Kid" Longabaugh, who was famously arrested for horse theft in Sundance in 1887, and later served time there.

After exploring the museum, head to the nearby 100-acre Sundance White Ranch Park, where you can go hiking on the varied-terrain trails or discover the skill-oriented Open Space Trails in the park, like the Butch & Sundance Trail, mimicking the trails that the outlaws may have used to escape capture by Sheriff Ranch and the Pinkerton detectives.

Wyoming Dinosaur Center, Thermopolis

The perfect museum for families with dinosaur-crazy kids, the Wyoming Dinosaur Center lets you and the kids get up close and personal with over 70 mounted skeletons, hundreds of displays and dioramas, fossils, and interactive exhibits. Among the museum’s shining stars is a 130-foot-tall Supersaurus named Jimbo, one of the largest mounted skeletons in the world, as well as the only North American exhibit of a fossilized Archaeopteryx. In season, the museum offers a program called Dig for a Day, where you spend the day at an active dig site. A nice bonus is if you find a bone, your name, the bone, and the location will be recorded and kept at the museum for future museum-goers to admire. If you don’t have a day to devote to digging, the next best thing is an hour-long Dino De-Tour to the museum’s famous scientifically-significant dig site, known as the Something Interesting (SI) quarry.

After the museum, head downtown to the One Eyed Buffalo Brewing Company for bison burgers or jalapeno cheeseburgers, followed by a microbrew. The menu includes smaller portions for the kids.

National Historic Trails Interpretive Center, Casper

A must-see museum in the “Oil City” of Casper, the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center explores the real-life drama of the over 400,000 pioneers who traveled the storied Oregon, California, Mormon, and Pony Express Trails between 1840 and 1869. Your visit starts in the Trails Center, with an 18-minute light and sound show, after which you can begin exploring the seven galleries of exhibits. You can pretend-ride in a stagecoach or take a virtual wagon ride over the North Platte River, enjoying the bumps and jolts along the way. Outside, there’s more to discover in the Pony Express Cabin.

Make this a 3-for-1 museum day, and head over to the family-friendly Tate Geological Museum at Casper College to see over 6,000 fossil and mineral specimens, and the Werner Wildlife Museum, just a short walk from the campus. While the museum’s primary focus is native Wyoming species, it also houses 450 birds, fish, and animals from around the world.

National Museum Of Military Vehicles, Dubois

The 160,000 square-foot National Museum of Military Vehicles in Dubois opened its doors to the public for the first time in the fall of 2020. The world-class museum actually started as a passion project for Dan Starks, the Founder and Chairman of the museum, who bought a broken-down WWII Sherman tank to drive in Dubois’ annual Fourth of July parade in 2011. Since then, the collection has grown significantly, and the museum contains hundreds of fully restored military vehicles, providing an insider’s look at the history of the American military. A must-see destination for military enthusiasts, history fans, veterans, and patriots, the museum features immersive exhibits detailing the American experience in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. There’s also a collection of historic firearms to see.

After working up an appetite in the military museum, drive up the road to the popular Cowboy Café, whose lunch menu caters to big appetites with options like a WYO Beasty Burger, described as a half pound of elk, buffalo, wild boar, and wagyu beef and American cheese on a bun.

National Museum Of Wildlife Art, Jackson

A visit to the National Museum of Wildlife Art (NMWA) in Jackson is ideal if you love nature + art. Set against the backdrop of the National Elk Refuge, the museum provides opportunities to admire art both inside the building and outside along the award-winning landscape architect Walter Hood’s .75-mile Sculpture Trail, where you’ll see larger-than-life wildlife art.

The museum brings together the work of more than 550 artists, and over 5,000 individual pieces of animal art, including Robert Bateman’s most famous work, “Chief,” and work by other artists like Georgia O’Keeffe and Andy Warhol. The Carl Rungius Gallery features the most extensive public collection of the painter’s work, proving why he is considered one of North America’s preeminent wildlife painters. If you start feeling hungry after your visit, book a table for a late lunch at nearby Palate, a foodie’s paradise, serving local beers, cocktails, and gourmet sandwiches.

Don’t miss the opportunity to take the 42-mile Grand Teton Loop Drive through Grand Teton National Park for jaw-dropping scenery, wildlife spotting, and some of the park's top lookouts and viewpoints.

Wyoming Geological Museum, Laramie

With free admission to the Wyoming Geological Museum at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, there’s nothing to stop you from spending a day channeling your inner paleontologist. The museum was founded in 1887, and its outstanding collection of over 60,000 fossil specimens and 50 holotypes (a single specimen of a fossil) brings prehistoric Wyoming to life. You can’t miss the museum on campus, thanks to the life-sized copper T. rex sculpture out front. The museum’s star attraction is a 75-foot-tall Allosaurus named “Big Al,” discovered near Shell, Wyoming, in 1992, but it also includes fascinating exhibits on rocks and minerals.

After the museum visit, grab coffee at the on-campus Turtle Rock and Coffee Café, then stretch your legs in the great outdoors at Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest. Only a short drive from the city, the forest covers an area of almost three million acres.

The Washakie Museum and Cultural Center, Worland

The Washakie Museum & Cultural Center in Worland brings the human and natural history of the Big Horn Basin to life. The Big Horn Basin is arguably the most important area for understanding the geology, history, and culture of Wyoming. The massive basin and surrounding mountain ranges, dating back more than 60 million years, reveal fossils, minerals, and ancient environments that shaped the region. It was also home to Indigenous peoples like the Shoshone and Crow, and later explored by trappers and settlers.

The museum features multiple galleries focused on paleontology and archaeology, including interactive light and sound displays. For instance, the “The Last West” gallery showcases ranching, farming, and the struggles of early settlers, and features a walk-in pioneer dugout. In 2025, the museum added a new permanent collection of taxidermy featuring wildlife found throughout the state, including a 450-pound bison. Guided tours are available.

About an hour from the museum, you’ll find the Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite, which contains hundreds of fossil dinosaur footprints preserved in 167-million-year-old limestone. There’s a boardwalk and interpretive signs at what is considered Wyoming’s largest known dinosaur tracksite and one of the few places in the world with Mid-Jurassic dinosaur tracks.

Small Population, Big History: Wyoming’s Best Museums

From outlaw legends and Old West prisons to prehistoric fossils and world-class wildlife art, Wyoming’s museums capture the essence of the state’s rugged, fascinating history. Each one offers a glimpse into a different side of the West by encapsulating its pioneering spirit, natural wonders, and cultural depth. It’s a reminder that while Wyoming may be the least populous state in the nation, it’s overflowing with stories, artifacts, and adventures that bring its vast landscapes and the people who shaped them vividly to life.