Boot Hill Museum Gunfight - Dodge City, Kansas The Boot Hill Museum in Dodge City, Kansas is dedicated to preserving the history of the Old West. The museum is probably best known for gunfight recreations and the evening can-can show, but I enjoy the exhibits in the main museum and tucked into parts of the building that creates the old west "Front Street." One of the more interesting new displays is the Law & Order exhibit, which tells stories from Dodge City, asks if you would have voted that the person was guilty or not guilty, and then explains what the local law actually decided. The People of the Plains exhibit is also very good and I would love to see it expanded. Somepeople may feel the need to see the gunfight, to justify the $20 admission fee. The gunfights take place at high noon and 6:30PM during the summer season from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Your summer visit should be timed for you to be present at one of those 2 times. Other summer only events are an additional expense: old time photos, ice cream parlor, 7PM country style dinner and 7:30PM Long Branch Variety Show. In 2025 a combination ticket for admission, dinner and show was $50 for 13 & up and $38 for 5-12 years. The museum is named after the Boot Hill Cemetery, which was once on the northeast corner of the grounds. The name refers to men who "died with their boots on." Today the cemetery has simulated grave markers with the names of people who had been buried there. The cemetery was used from 1872 until 1878 when the remains were moved to a new Prairie Grove Cemetery, east of Dodge City. Prairie Grove was used only 9 years and many of the bodies were moved again to the current Maple Grove Cemetery. The Boot Hill museum began as a community service project of the Dodge City Jaycees in 1947. The replica "Front Street" was started in 1958 and expanded over the years.
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