Mahaffie School Programs

An Authentic Experience... Certified as a site on the Santa Fe National Historic Trail by the National Park Service, Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop offers your students an opportunity to discover history where it happened:  with real animals, real stagecoaches and wagons, at a real farm and stagecoach stop of the 1860s.   Hands-on activities along with presentations and demonstrations designed to help meet curriculum requirements make visiting Mahaffie fun for children and a valuable tool for educators! The stories of men and women on the overland trails come to life when students can actually help prepare food over an open fire by a real prairie schooner! Download our 2009-2010 School Program Brochure

All Ages-Learn more about this fascinating frontier family, their home and their stagecoach stop. Ride the stagecoach, tour the 1865 Mahaffie home and farm buildings, and explore the exhibits in the Heritage Center. To ensure time for hands-on activities, students, do not visit the entire Mahaffie home and farm in our other programs. This program is the ideal companion to a day-long visit to Mahaffie when booked with a second program of your choice.

We have our school programs aligned with Kansas and Missouri educational standards. Click on the link below for more details.

Curriculum Standards

Grades K through 2

Growing Up Victorian - Our youngest students enjoy discovering what life was like for children in the mid-1800s.  Farm chores, period games, and a ride in our stagecoach help students make comparisons with their lives today.

Grades 3 through 8

Wagons Ho - Pan for "gold",  ride the stagecoach, and explore a real prairie schooner packed for the Oregon Trail. Find out why, and how, so many nineteenth century Americans went west on the Oregon, California, and Santa Fe Trails in one of our most popular programs.

J.B. Mahaffie Had a Farm - Famous as a stagecoach stop, the Mahaffie farming operation was even more important to the family in the 1860s.  Discover farm life in the 1860s by helping with farm chores and watching demonstrations.  Lucinda Mahaffie made 600 pounds of butter in 1865 - and your class can make some, too! 

Home on the Range - Many of the tools, skills, and even words used by American cowboys trace their beginnings to the vaqueros of Mexico. Discover these connections, and find out if the lives of Kansas cowboys in the 1860s and 1870s match what we see on TV and in the movies! Call for details on bringing this program to your school.  

The Tragic Prelude- Explore life on the Kansas/Missouri border during the Border Wars and the Civil War.  Learn about the equipment carried by soldiers, write with an ink pen, and don't be surprised if you end up marching and drilling, or perhaps tying quilts or making bandages! Program activities vary with available staff.  Call for details on bringing this program to your school.

A minimum of 20 students, or a minimum fee of $100, is required per program.

Fees:  $5 per student per program. Groups of 100 or more can easily be accommodated (even for an entire day by booking two programs) but may require a slight additional fee to cover extra staff time.

One teacher or escort per 10 paid students is admitted free.

A minimum of 20 students, or a minimum fee of $100, is required per program.

Most programs are approximately 2 hours in length: small groups may move through a program faster. 

A lunch area with basic, outdoor picnic tables is available, with a playground nearby. Many groups schedule two programs, with time for lunch and shopping in between.

You may wish to schedule time before or after your program for shopping in the museum store.  The shop carries many quality souvenirs for under $2.00.  We can also provide souvenir bags for a fee of $1/student.   The bags contain items such as postcards, marbles, pencils, or stick candy.   

We can create a program for older students, or to fit special curriculum needs.  Please give us a call at 913.971.5111 or email at mahaffie@olatheks.org for more information!