Explore the Museum of Natural History & Science

Dinosaur Hall

Science Interactives Gallery

The Austin E. Knowlton
Foundation Science Stage

The Cave

Neil Armstrong Space
Exploration Gallery

Ice Age Gallery

John A. and Judy Ruthven
Get Into Nature Gallery

Ancient Worlds Hiding in
Plain Sight

Advancing Health, presented by
Mayfield Brain & Spine

STEM Lab

History

Just thirty years after the founding of Cincinnati, physician and scientist Daniel Drake founded the Western Museum in 1818 and hired naturalist John James Audubon as its first employee. In 1835 Drake established the Western Academy of Natural Sciences, incorporating the collections of the Western Museum. After the Civil War, this organization evolved into the Cincinnati Society of Natural History. The Society continued to grow in sophistication, adding to its collections and expanding its staff.

After nearly a century as a tenant in various downtown buildings, the museum moved into its own home on Gilbert Avenue in Eden Park in 1958. Here it distinguished itself by creating a widely-adopted educational program where hundreds of museum exhibit cases rotated through the Cincinnati public school system, reaching thousands of students weekly in their classrooms. Attendance and membership continued to grow until the museum moved to Union Terminal in 1990. Today it attracts more than 1.5 million guests every year.