The Kansas Motorcycle Museum

Prior to my visit to the Kansas Motorcycle Museum in August 2024, it wasn’t on my radar. I’m embarrassed to admit that I’d never heard of it. I was on my way from Texas to South Dakota to ride in the Small Bike Big Adventure (SBBA) event (see page 14). The route went up I-135 in Kansas, and I saw one of the four billboards the museum has posted along highways advertising the museum. I was running ahead of schedule and figured: Why not make a small detour?

The Kansas Motorcycle Museum in Marquette, Kansas, (population 590) houses about 145 bikes of all ages and nationalities in addition to over 600 trophies won by the museum’s founder, Stan “The Man” Engdahl. Stan was a legendary Midwestern dirt track racer whose career spanned six decades from the 1940s to the 1990s. During that period, Stan won five National Scrambles Championships and 16 Kansas State Championships. The museum is chock-full of race jerseys, photos and related memorabilia.

As noted on the museum’s website, Stan Engdahl won all his trophies and championships riding a Harley-Davidson K Model, a 750cc flathead/sidevalve machine. Stan retired from racing in 1993 at the age of 64 and he and his wife, LaVona, opened the museum in 2003. Since their passing over a decade ago, the museum has been operating as a 501(c)(3) organization run by volunteers.

The museum is comprised of three large rooms totaling about 5,000 square feet. Dixon Johnson, board member and treasurer for the museum, says about ten thousand folks visit each year. Although there’s no admission fee, a seven-dollar donation is suggested. Most of the bikes in the collection are on loan, some are donated, and they rotate bikes in and out periodically.