From past to present, we’ve evolved to embrace the future.
After more than 100 years of exploring the mysteries of the natural world, we know a thing or two about evolution. From a two-room house in downtown Cleveland to more than 375,000 square feet of state-of-the-art exhibit galleries, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History is well-acquainted with growth and change. And although we’ve changed and evolved over time, our core mission has remained the same: to connect you, our visitors, with the wonders of the natural world—and inspire all to be a voice for the planet.
Our Ark era
While the Cleveland Museum of Natural History was officially established in 1920, we have a rich history that predates our founding. In the 1830s, naturalists began gathering in a small building on Cleveland's Public Square to discuss and display a collection of natural history specimens. Their collection became known as the Ark, and the group called itself the Arkites. The Museum still houses specimens from this collection today.
As the Ark moved to different buildings around Cleveland and the Arkites began to establish societies for the study of the natural sciences, Cleveland’s leaders concluded that the city needed a natural history museum. The Cleveland Museum of Natural History was officially incorporated on December 13, 1920, and welcomed its first public guests in 1922 with an exhibition featuring animal heads, shells, butterflies, and more.
Gems and fish and dinosaurs, oh my!
Soon after its opening, the Museum expanded its collection of objects and specimens for scientific study and public education. Jeptha Homer Wade II bequeathed much of his collection of precious gems and stones to the newly formed Museum in 1924. Clevelanders helped bring Balto and his dogsled team to the city in 1927, raising $2,000 to bring them to the Brookside Zoo. After Balto died in 1933, his body was preserved by the Museum, where we continue to tell his story.
The legacy of our researchers shines throughout our history—not just in our scientific discoveries, but also in the names of our specimens. Paleontologist Peter Bungart began our collection of Dunkleosteus terrelli specimens when he reassembled the first fossil in 1936. Named for former curator Dr. David Dunkle and fondly known as “Dunk,” this prehistoric predator serves as an educational tool for all—and was even named Ohio’s official state fossil fish in 2021. "Happy," our 70-foot-long skeleton of Haplocanthosaurus delfsi, is named for Edwin Delfs, one of four students who led a dino-digging expedition for the Museum in 1954.
Other scientific breakthroughs, such as the 1974 discovery of "Lucy," the famous Australopithecus afarensis specimen, by former curator Dr. Donald Johanson, brought the global spotlight to the Museum’s world-class research programs. Today, you can see these and other iconic specimens in the Museum’s Visitor Hall—a space that is free to the public.
A new century
The Museum moved from Euclid Avenue to our current home at 1 Wade Oval Drive in 1958. Since then, we’ve expanded our building and the spaces beyond our University Circle campus. We acquired and continue to steward more than 12,500 acres of natural areas throughout our region to protect biodiversity and educate guests about the ecosystems of northern Ohio. And after adding new wings to our building throughout the latter half of the 20th century, we began a total transformation of the Museum and all its exhibits in 2021. With our transformed Museum unveiled in December 2024, we are better positioned than ever to empower visitors with knowledge from the past that will inform and shape a sustainable future.
