Utica Children's Museum
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Former names |
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Established | 1 August 1963 |
Location | Utica, New York |
Coordinates | 43°05′13″N 75°15′11″W / 43.0870562°N 75.2531573°W |
Type | Children's museum |
Website | uticacm |
The Utica Children's Museum is a children's museum in Utica, New York.[2] It closed its old downtown location in 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its new location along Utica's Memorial Parkway is expected to open in 2024.
History
The museum was founded on August 1, 1963, by the Utica Junior League. Originally called the "Junior Museum of Oneida County", it was housed in the basement of the
In 1979, the museum moved into the John C. Hieber Building, where it stayed until 2020. Initially the museum occupied the first floor and half of the second floor of the Hieber Building, but it soon expanded to three floors. The fourth floor was opened in 2002 with help from NASA and the Office of Science.[5] The Junior League of Utica disbanded in 2006. In 2017, the museum approved a managed services contract with local non-profit Kids Oneida, which would rename itself ICAN in 2019.[6][4][3]
In March 2020, ICAN announced that the museum would be relocating to a new building on the Memorial Parkway, located at the former location of the Utica City School District administrative offices. The COVID-19 pandemic caused the museum to close its old location sooner than expected. Through the pandemic, it held virtual programming and visits by a bookmobile-like van called it calls the "Mobile Museum". Groundbreaking on the new building was held in October 2021. The museum is expected to reopen in 2024.[4]
References
- ISBN 978-0-7591-0855-4.
- ISBN 978-0-7627-6345-0.
- ^ a b "Museum will need your help". Utica Observer-Dispatch. August 11, 2015. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
- ^ a b c "History". Utica Children's Museum. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
- ISBN 978-1-58157-919-2.
- ^ "Kids Oneida Announces the Evolution to ICAN". ICAN. Retrieved March 3, 2024.