Museums, Heritage, and Culture Across Yakima Valley
Explore Yakima Valley’s Agricultural and Native American Heritage
Find Your Next Museum Visit
You can enjoy the present-day Yakima Valley without studying its history, yet spending time at one of its museums or cultural centers can add considerable depth to your trip. Museums, interpretive centers, and historic places throughout the Valley honor its determined settlers, the proud history of the Yakama Nation, and its defining agricultural tradition. Together, they provide engaging and flavorful views of the Valley’s past, present, and future.
Yakima Valley Museum
2105 Tieton Drive • Yakima, WA 98902 • 509-248-0747
Explore two complete floors devoted to the natural and cultural history of South Central Washington, including the largest collection of wooden wagons west of the Mississippi. Exhibits cover the Yakima Valley fruit industry, horse-drawn vehicles, Indian art & artifacts, natural history, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, and rotating special exhibitions. The museum also includes a gift and book shop, research library, and operating 1930's Art Deco Soda Fountain. Sunset Magazine readers recently voted The Museum's Soda Fountain one of the West Coast's Top Ten Old Fashioned Soda Fountains.
Central Washington Ag Museum
4508 Main Street • Union Gap, WA 98903 • 509-457-8735
The Central Washington Agricultural Museum presents Washington State's agricultural heritage and is the largest museum of its kind in the Pacific Northwest. Each June, Old Town Days brings the force and excitement of Washington's largest Civil War reenactment. In August, the Pioneer Power Show offers a close-up look at the power of antique farm equipment.
Northern Pacific Railway Museum
10 Asotin Avenue • Toppenish, WA 98948 • 509-865-1911
This museum features a gift shop and a restored telegraph office. Visitors can also enjoy a picnic in Railroad Park next door. The Northern Pacific Railway Museum welcomes the public from May through mid-October, Tuesday through Saturday, 10am - 4pm, as well as during special events such as Toy Train Christmas. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children 12 and under.
Yakama Nation Cultural Museum
100 Spiel-yi Loop • Toppenish, WA 98948 • 509-865-2800
The Yakama Nation Cultural Center is the best place to explore the important cultural influence of the Yakama Nation. Open daily, the facility brings together the Yakama Nation Museum, Cultural Center Gift Shop, Heritage Inn Restaurant, Heritage Theater, and Yakama Nation Library.
Yakima Electric Railway Museum
418 S 3rd Avenue • Yakima, WA 98902 • 509-249-5962
Housed in the former Yakima Valley Transportation Co. 1910 shop facility, the museum offers vintage electric trolley rides between Selah and Yakima. Original powerhouse equipment and electric rail equipment are on display.
Yakima Area Arboretum
1401 Arboretum Drive • Yakima, WA 98901 • 509-248-0747
This distinctive “tree museum” contains native and exotic plants from around the world. It also features one of the regions few Japanese Gardens. The Jewett Interpretive Center provides space for small meetings, along with a gift shop and library.
American Hop Museum
22 S B Street • Toppenish, WA 98948 • 509-865-4677
Discover the rich history of the Yakima Valley hop industry, which reaches back as far as the 1800s. Murals, displays, photographs, implements, and a colonial brewery exhibit bring that story to life, while an on-site gift shop offers another stop during your visit.
McAllister Museum of Aviation
2008 S 16th Avenue • Yakima, WA 98903 • 509-457-4933
Brothers Charlie and Alister McAllister first opened the site as a flight school in 1926. It became one of the longest running flight schools in the Northwest. Following Charlie's death at age 95, the school was converted into the museum it remains today. The museum is at the East end of the Yakima Airport at 2008 South 16th Avenue.
Fort Simcoe State Park
5150 Fort Simcoe Road • White Swan, WA 98952 • 509-874-2372
Fort Simcoe was established in 1856 as a consequence of hostilities between the Natives and the white men. During the mid 1800s, infantry stationed there watched over the surrounding area. The fort was constructed on an important tribal gathering place on the Yakama Nation Reservation and later served as a school for the Yakama Nation. Visitors may walk across the grounds and through officers' quarters furnished in historical likeness of their original state.
Ahtanum Mission
17740 Ahtanum Road • Yakima, WA 98903 • 509-966-0865
Recognized as an important historical landmark, Ahtanum Mission dates to the early 1850's. Chief Kamiakin asked a Catholic Priest in Walla Walla to come and teach his tribe. In response, two Catholic Fathers arrived and established St. Joseph's Mission on the Ahtanum Creek.
Benton County Historical Museum - Prosser
1000 Paterson Road • Prosser, WA 99350 • 509-786-3842
Prosser's Benton County Historical Museum is a non-profit historical museum in Prosser Washington. It began in 1968 to preserve elements of Prosser and the surrounding are's history. Five rooms contain items for visitors to examine, including ancient artifacts, photographs, books, dresses, tools, and many other objects from the area's past.
Olde Yakima Letterpress Museum
4508 Main Street • Union Gap, WA 98903 • 206-719-4979
See a hands-on, working 1900's letterpress shop preserving an ancient art for the next generation. The museum is located within the Central WA Ag Museum in Union Gap.
Sunnyside Historical Museum
704 S 4th Street • Sunnyside, WA 98944 • 509-837-6010
This history museum is dedicated to safeguarding Sunnyside’s history and the stories of its citizens.
Yakima Valley Museums and Cultural Related Businesses
American Hop Museum
22 S. B Street
Toppenish, WA 98948
509-865-4677
Central Washington Agricultural Museum
4508 Main Street
Union Gap, WA 98903
509-457-8735
McAllister Museum of Aviation
2008 South 16th Avenue
Yakima, WA 98908
509-457-4933
Northern Pacific Railway Museum
10 Asotin Avenue
Toppenish, WA 98948
509-865-1911
Yakama Nation Cultural Center
100 Spiel-yi Loop (Hwy 97 & Buster Road)
Toppenish, WA 98948
509-865-2800
Yakima Area Arboretum
1401 Arboretum Drive
Yakima, WA 98901
509-248-7337
Yakima Valley Museum
2105 Tieton Drive
Yakima, WA 98902
509-248-0747
Yakima Valley Trolleys
P.O. Box 796
Yakima, WA 98907
509-249-5962