A privately founded museum of Western Americana housed in a renovated downtown building on House Avenue. The Nelson covers the high-end end of the genre: the kind of period saddles, custom firearms, military uniforms, Plains Indian beadwork, and Western paintings that most state museums can't afford. The bronze of the cowboy on the front of the building is by Avard Fairbanks.
Operated by the Nelson family with seasonal hours (typically May through September), and a small, separately operated annex of Native American art. Modest admission. Best combined with a walk down Capitol Avenue toward the railway depot.