St. Louis Science Center
After the Civil War the country of the United States grew as never before because of its Industrial Revolution, and inadvertently the explosion of growth would help eventually establish the St. Louis Science Center. A lot of the enterprise activity was located outside of the Midwest region of the country; however there were a few men that began to change that. A group comprised of doctors, a lawyer and a businessman wanted to educate and inform the public about medicine and other new technologies, and just as important they wanted to promote the idea that in the heart of America there could be a centralized area of study for other professionals and educators. They founded the Academy of Science of St. Louis which along with a few of notables helped the St. Louis Science Center to become what it is today, a place of learning and fun.
The development of the St. Louis Science Center from the Museum of Science and Natural History in Oak Knoll Park eventually lead to the building of the McDonnell Planetarium in 1963. Interestingly a native son of Scottish background and holding masters in physics would help to raise the funds to establish the planetarium – James S. McDonnell of McDonnell Douglas aircraft fame. A few years went by and in the mid 80s the museum and planetarium became the St. Louis Science Center in Forest Park Missouri. Growth continued and a short six years after the establishment of the St. Louis Science Center a new building went up in 1991. Toward the end of the 90s the Exploradome opened its doors to house more of the exhibits of the St. Louis Science Center. In keeping with the intent and tradition of the past to educate and inform the center for its millions of visitors each year it remains a center of learning that does not have a general admission charge.