“The home where movie legend John Wayne was born!”
Step back in time and picture the life of a young midwestern boy and his family near the turn of the century. This modest four-room home has been restored to reflect its appearance in 1907, the year of Duke's birth. An impressive collection of John Wayne memorabilia includes unique items such as the eyepatch worn in the movie True Grit, a hat worn in Rio Lobo, and a prop suitcase used in the film Stagecoach. Hundreds of rare photographs of Duke are on display as well as letters from Lucille Ball, Gene Autry, Maureen O'Hara, Jimmy Stewart, Kirk Douglas, Bob Hope, Ronald Reagan and George Burns.
I was disappointed to learn after visiting that this may not be the actual house where John Wayne was born—just one on the same street. Still, it's worth a stop and the proceeds go to the town of Winterset's effort to create a John Wayne Museum.
Pretty disappointed. We went and discovered you pay admission to even see the house. Outside is pretty neat. They have the different movies carved into the ground. There is a statue outside of John. You enter immediately into the gift shop. We weren't greeted and took a second to figure out how it worked. The staff were not friendly at all.
Went many years ago. It was small, quaint, and pleasant. Now it's more commercial. All about money it seems. Not The Dukes actual home and he was gone before he even knew his name. Just a place that is tied to him. Nice to swing by if in the area but not a place to go out of the way for.
Amazing
They just opened a pretty nice facility. The tour was $15 per adult. We didn't do the tour. If we had a lot of time, we would have liked to, because the tour includes access to a little theatre that is playing John Wayne movies. That would have been fun. The gift shop had a lot of cool John Wayne merchandise. The house was cute. You can't go in, unless you purchase the tour.
If you have time, and some money, I think this would be a great stop.
The tour is pricey for what you actually get to do. The house is very small but filled only with things from the time period--nothing from when John Wayne actually lived there. The museum next door is VERY small with mostly artifacts after he passed away and then a short film about his career.
This town is really milking the whole John Wayne thing. Was pretty neat to see, went into the gift shop and browsed around....
Didn't go in, but took a selfie with The Duke in front of a newly built museum on the same block.
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John Wayne Birthplace Museum
Hours
- Sun - Sat: 10:00 am - 4:30 pm
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Independent
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