A Gateway to Freedom
Part of the Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area, housed inside the historic Vernon School.
The Kansas City Underground Railroad Museum of Quindaro is part of the Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area. The heritage area focuses on three main themes: Shaping the Frontier, the Kansas/Missouri Border War, and the Enduring Struggle for Freedom. In addition to the Underground Railroad, visitors to our museum will learn about Bleeding Kansas, the Quindaro Ruins, the Wyandotte tribe, the Civil War, the Vernon School, Exodusters, Western University, the only HBCU in Kansas, and much more.
Our museum is housed inside the Vernon School, a national historic site built as a New Deal project. The Vernon School was constructed in 1936 and functioned as an all-black school until it closed in 1972. It was named in honor of Bishop William T. Vernon, a Bishop in the AME Church, Register of the Treasury, and President of Western University. In 1976, the school was reopened as the Vernon Multipurpose Center, which offers free resources to the Quindaro community, such as senior activities, quilting classes, computer classes, the museum, and much more.