The official date of the museum's founding is considered to be May 28, 1970. In 1982, for achievements in local history and search activities, the Ministry of Culture of the RSFSR awarded the museum the title of "People's".

Initially, the museum was located at 39 Krasnaya Street, but due to the constant addition of the collection, the premises became cramped. In 1987, by decision of the executive committee of the city council of people's deputies, the museum was allocated two floors of a building at 68 Krasnaya Street.

In 1992, by order of the head of the administration of Kropotkin, the building was fully transferred to the museum. Today it is located in a historic building from the early 20th century.

The museum has permanent exhibitions:

"Kuban in the Stone Age";

"Peoples of the Prikuban in the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Middle Ages";

"Adyghe, the indigenous population of Kuban (13th, 19th centuries)";

"The First Redoubts in Kuban. Post at 'Gorely Oak' (late 18th, mid-19th centuries)";

"Kavkazskaya Station (1874, 1913)";

"Romanovsky, Kropotkin. The Path from Farmstead to City (1900s, 1921)";

"A Great Son of the Fatherland (P. A. Kropotkin)";

"The City of Kropotkin during the Years of War Turmoil (1941, 1945)".