What History Does The Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums Preserve?

The Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums in southwestern Wisconsin preserve two distinct but connected histories: the lead and zinc mining heritage of the Upper Mississippi Valley Mining District, and the rural folk culture of the region as collected by local historian Rollo Jamison. You can see both on a single visit — the underground mine tour covers more than 100 years of local mining, while the exhibit galleries hold Jamison's one-man collection of everyday rural objects. The museum is open seasonally, with tours running May through October and the site closed November 1 through April 30 (special winter programming is listed separately).

The Lead and Zinc Mining Story

The museum sits in the heart of the historic lead-zinc mining region, on a three-acre campus near the world's largest "M." Its centerpiece is the 1845 Bevans Lead Mine, where Lorenzo Bevans struck it rich just yards from the museum's back door more than 150 years ago.

On the one-hour guided underground tour, you walk down a 90-step incline into the mine. The temperature and humidity shift as you descend — a sensory detail the museum highlights as part of the experience. The tour traces over a century of local lead and zinc mining, and a visit to the headframe shows how ore was hoisted to the surface and hand-sorted.

Above ground, the 1931 Whitcomb locomotive pulls ore cars on a train ride across the campus (weather permitting). The locomotive was used at the Blackstone Mine near Shullsburg until the 1950s, and the train has carried more than 300,000 adults and children since 1978.

The exhibit galleries, founded in 1964, hold one of the largest collections of regional mining artifacts and dioramas in the Upper Midwest. Displays explain Mississippi Valley-Type lead-zinc ore deposits and how local mining led to Wisconsin's nickname, the Badger State.

Rollo Jamison's Folk-History Collection

The cultural history exhibits represent the one-man collection of folk historian Rollo Jamison. The displays range widely — from boxing squirrels to hair wreaths, bull halters, and cigar molds — and are meant to give visitors a picture of rural life in southwestern Wisconsin.

Where the History Lives on Campus

The museum's place-based exhibits and interpretive programs are spread across several historic structures and outdoor spaces:

The museum store sells rock and mineral specimens and gifts related to regional history.

Planning Around the Season

The single most important fact for a visit: the museum is closed November 1 through April 30, and the tour season runs May through October. If you want the underground mine tour and train ride, plan for that window and check the programs and special events page for winter offerings. The mine tour takes about an hour, so budget time for the galleries and outdoor grounds as well.