Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park – Seattle Unit

Found this free little museum while walking. It was well laid out and we could look at displays at our leisure. It’s mind blowing to think about preparing for a trip to the Klondike, and then what that trip would be like.
This was an interesting museum with a long story regarding the gold rush. There’s lots of things to see and do inside the building to captivate you and give you the story about how the Klondike Gold Rush started. I would highly recommend, especially if you’re a history buff. You could spend about an hour here, and they have a nice gift shop at the end with lots of little things for sale.
This maybe a small National Park site but worth the time to stop and look. Lots of interactive displays and history about Seattle’s part in the Klondike Gold Rush. There are a couple good videos to watch and works well with kids of all ages. The museum is free to visitors and I would encourage anyone to take the time to visit.

Worth a visit to learn some interesting local, and national, history. The fact that it is always free is definitely a reason to go but it really was fun and probably takes 20 – 30 minutes to walk through. They also have a small theater with a nice movie about the gold rush (which we didn’t get to finish but was enjoyable).

Nice place to stop by if you’re trying to kill some time and it’s free! A lot of history on the Gold Rush and mini-​exhibits throughout. There’s also a movie theater running a documentary nonstop which is nice when you need somewhere to sit and rest.

Free Historical Museum!
This museum gives you information about the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897 and the impact it had on Seattle. You can follow 5 different people and learn about their journey and story. It also has artifacts and old photos and newspapers. This place is great for history buffs (which I’m not). They have a fun scale where it tells you how much your weight is in gold and how much you would be worth.

When I found out the main Klondike Gold Rush Park is closed in the off-​season, I made sure to swing by this off-​shoot. The exhibits were great and followed individuals through their gold rush journey. There were a few artifacts and an informative video. It’s a quick museum stop while you are near Pioneer Square. The park rangers were also super nice and helpful.

Great piece of history, staff were great and informative. Even found a fellow alabamian transplant.

A good overview of Seattle history, and how the gold rush shaped the city. I was first totally engaged by the history of the Cadillac Hotel (an amazing save of a beaten up historic building), a display next to the front desk located in the restored building. Even though I had been to other Klondike museums, the personal touch of following individuals like Nordstrom on each stage of the journey kept me interested until the end on the bottom floor.

Top notch museum that explores the Klondike gold rush. Good exhibits that allow you to track 5 individuals who actually went north. You can follow them on their journey, and it gives you a look into what motivated each, how they did and finally, what happened to them.
Also explores how lobbying and advertising allowed Seattle to turnthe gold rush into the catalyst to transform the sleepy mill town into the prosperous gateway to the gold fields. Great artifacts, fotos that gives the visitor a look into this fascinating event in our history.

What a lovely little gem in the heart of Pioneer Square. I had no idea the National Parks had this little space.
It’s charming and fun to browse and learn a few facts about the gold rush days. I can’t believe the museum is free!
Tip: If you are a local, be sure to check out their Nordstrom/​Bartell/​Filson section downstairs, plus the notebook of pictures at the end of the tour, offering some before and after pics of the area related to the gold rush, local pioneers, and the Seattle fire.

The diorama-​rama was a bit overwhelming, but it was interesting for about five minutes. Calling this a «park» is an overstatement — It’s two floors of a small building and a bunch of interactive (in the «press this button and hear this voice actor speak» sense) galleries.
In that sense it’s sort of like the exhibit at the bottom of the Gateway Arch. It’s just a bit weird and outdated, and it doesn’t go well with what I’d expect from a museum in 2015.

This place is a lot bigger on the inside! It’s on the corner of the street and you think it will be very small but it is three stories of an exhibit. There is a lot of history and you could spend a couple hours here really just perusing and watching the film. There is a nice gift shop. Nice little bit of history about Seattle to be found here.

The American National Park System is wonderful. This is a great free exhibit that talked about Seattle’s role in the Klondike Gold Rush. There are some activities for kids and some great lessons for adults. If nothing else, stop in and use the clean bathrooms if you’re in the area. I highly recommend visiting to support our National Parks and the great work of our nation.

If you’re in Seattle for the first time — and you want to gain an appreciation for the history of the city, you need to make this one of your first stops.
Free to get into since its a national park — you’ll get to tack on another stamp to you National parks passport.
The building itself is a historical building from the Klondike rush days — as it was formerly utilised as a hotel for the prospectors staging for the long trip to the Klondike country.
They have a short film that really details how Seattle came to be a boom town, strategically engineered to be strategic for the Gold Rush. It’ll have history buffs wanting more. The film will also point out other points of interest for your visit to Seattle.
Parking could be difficult especially if you’re there during a sporting event– as the stadiums are just a couple blocks away. On off-​times you should be able to find meter parking. I think you’d just need about an 1 – 1.5 hours for your visit as the exhibit area is not terribly large.

Cute little museum! I believe we were told that it was the smallest national museum and I believe it. It’s just an upstairs and a downstairs but still holds a lot of information on the Gold Rush. We happened to just be stopping by and decided to check it out.
I didn’t read to much and just did a walk by but there was some interesting information.
It was cool to learn a little about the gold rush. We didn’t spend too much time but it’s still something cool to see while walking around Seattle.

This is an awesome free national park (yep I said national park) right downtown Seattle and it is a must-​see if you are in the area. It is a small museum type of national park that is FREE and really give you a great historical background of the gold rush and the impact it had in Seattle. The exhibits are laid out really well and extremely easy to follow and did I mention super interesting? They have original newspapers from the gold rush, videos, photos and super interesting stories of a few key people back in those days. The park rangers (employees there) were super helpful and very eager to answer any questions!

Wanted to see this National Park (yes it is a National Park) after reading all the great reviews on a Unilocal.Decided to make an afternoon of it in a Pioneer Square. We parked right in front of Salumi for $ 3/​hr. Were 1^st in line at Salumi and had an early lunch. Walked the block to the Klondike and paid the admission of nothing. Zip, nada, nutin. It has free admission. My favorite price.
It was a great way to learn about the gold rush in Alaska and how it made Seattle a major city on the West Coast. There’s a nice theater that shows a ½ hour film on the trials and tribulations of the people heading to the Klondike. So much information I never knew about the gold rush. The park has 2 stories and was well laid out and has interactive stories about several people who made the journey.
One of the people working there told us it’s the 2^nd smallest National Park. It used to be the smallest park until it changed locations to its present location.
I highly recommend this National Park to anyone wants to learn a lot of history and stories about the Alaskan Gold Rush. A part of US history that not many people know about.

This «park» is more of a museum in a building.
Everything you want to know about the Gold Rush. I really like how it is easy to follow, the flow of the museum was well thought out because I could choose from a handful of historic individuals and follow their journey up through Alaska. They did a good job on their displays/​exhibits. Nothing to lengthy.
This isn’t a museum for little kids to play around in, thus their attention will likely wonder.
It took me about 45 minutes to go though, or an hour total including the film clip.

There’s a National Park in downtown Seattle? There sure is! We literally stumbled into this place one day when we were out explore Pioneer Square. It’s a pretty small space, but it’s a museum specific to the Klondike Alaska Gold Rush, which helped Seattle grow as a city.
I found our quick trip to be very informative and would happily go there again with someone visiting Seattle. I personally love history and learning new things so it was awesome to find this gem in the «middle» of the city.

Who knew we had a national park in downtown Seattle? Not me, until I was showing some out-​of-​town friends around and we stumbled across it while checking out Pioneer Square. If you’re interested in Klondike Gold Rush history or making an educational day of it with kids, this is a pretty darn good free museum that’s worth spending an hour or two to check out.
The tour begins at street level with an eye-​catching (replica) display of a ton of stacked gold ingots. You’ll see the gold rush as it was reported in newspapers of the day and guidebooks written for prospective prospectors, and explore the journeys of several historical figures who followed the gold rush in different ways. Along the way, there are exhibits of mining equipment, replicas of a miner’s cabin and a general store, and many interactive displays with photos, videos, and narration.
The exhibits continue one floor down with historical artifacts featuring very familiar names: Nordstrom shoes, Bartell medicine bottles, and so on. A theater offers short 25-​minute videos about the gold rush. And, this being a national park, you can purchase your national parks passport and/​or get your passport stamped at the gift shop. They also have some pretty cool vintage national parks notecards and prints.
I only intended to stick my head in for a minute when we found this place, but ended up spending about an hour going through the exhibits. If you want to learn a little local history — or, ahem, enjoy some cool air-​conditioning and/​or use a restroom and/​or refill your water bottles for free — this is a handy place to know about.

This place is so unassuming from the outside, but once you enter, it is a nice place to learn about the Klondike gold rush. Admission is free, and the park staff is friendly and will answer any questions that you have. If you love to read about history, then this place is for you. Loved all the pictures to complement the history.
One of the best parts about visiting here is that it is pretty quiet so you won’t be bombarded with crowds unlike Pike’s Place Market.
Small gift shop is available.

Klar habe ich Jack London gelesen, Filme und Dokumentationen über den Goldrausch gesehen. Aber die Ausstellung bringt sehr gut kompakt die Geschichte und der wirklich Leben der Menschen während der «goldenen» Zeit rüber. Klasse gemacht — das Wissen konnten wir auf unserem Trip gut gebrauchen. Hier etwas mehr über unsere Reise