Jesse James Home Museum

The outlaw Jesse James is sewn into the fabric of American history. Whether you learned about his exploits in school or by watching The Brady Bunch you'll you'll feel a closer connection to his story as you stand there looking at the bullet hole in the wall where Robert Ford shot Tom Howard (fake name Jesse James was using) in 1882. (Technically it's no longer exactly THE bullet hole since over the years, before becoming a museum, people have picked at it taking pieces as souvenirs. It's still more or less the hole though.)

Moved from its original location it now sits beside the Patee House Museum . . . . which is also worth seeing. There's also an interesting (macabre) exhibit detailing the exhumation of Jesse's grave to once and for all lay to rest (see what I did there?) the rumors that this wasn't Jesse James and he lived for many more years eventually dying of old age.

I love traveling America stoping at places like this.

Neat museum, but it could be so much better! I first visited the Jesse James Home Museum more than 20 years ago when passing through St. Joseph. It's just like I remember it - small and touristy. They've got several artifacts from the era, and you can see the hole in the wall where Jesse James was shot. That part's neat.

In my opinion, they could do better to restore the house to how it looked at the time and move the articles, artifacts, pictures, clutter, etc. off the walls and place them in a separate facility (if they had one available). I think that would make it a little more authentic.

For $4, though, it's not a bad place to stop and link in to a small part of St. Joseph and U.S. history.

This was so much smaller than I imagined! I had imagined that the BIG OUTLAW himself would have had a much bigger home.

The home is filled with many artifacts and interesting historical facts. The young girl at the counter was unfriendly and was not interested in any conversation.

This is a very short tour and it's not guided. I'm not sure if it's worth the twelve bucks or more that we paid and the house is not in the original spot. However, it does have some nice history, but a lot of the displays were not well kept in my opinion. Having said that, you should stop by and support the local historical economy.

It's a small place, but it is super interesting. Feels like you've stepped back in time. Good place to spend some time and learn about history. Pretty cheap to get in. Go see the Patee house museum next door!!

We loved our historical experience here. I'm a big Old West history buff and so is my husband. The admission is peanuts compared to the experience you get just touching the same walls and standing where Jesse stood. Obviously not everything is placed how it was when Jesse and his family lived here, but there are so many artifacts & it was so cool how it was presented. Next time we go to St Joe, we want to go to 1318 Lafayette St where the original house stood before they moved it to its current spot.

The unsavory career of this big criminal came to a halt in this little house.

It's odd how some hoodlums become famous in life and remain famous after death. They are a menace to society, so why the interest? Maybe movies that sustain ongoing interest in Jesse James.

I think we paid $5 a person to get in. We saw that as a fair fee. It's a small house but must be kept up.

Here's some trivia you don't expect to see on Yelp: My grandmother and her sister briefly rented a home in Dallas when they were young and single. They were told by a neighbor that the home had, at one time, been rented by Jesse James.

See the house where outlaw Jesse James was shot in the backof the head and killed by fellow gang member Bob Ford on April 3, 1882. Jesse was 34 his shooter was 19.  Exhibits include artifacts from Jesse's grave. The home was moved to this location on the grounds of Patee House Museum.

This museum is just plain cool. It's small and will only take you less than 30 minutes, but it's worth it if you're into Jesse James.

This is a great find... too bad our GPS took us the longest roundabout way possible, but we made it! Just in time for a thunderstorm so we didn't get to do the tour but it looks like a great historical stop!