Imagine Children's Museum is a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

children's museum Children's museums are institutions that provide exhibits and programs to stimulate informal learning experiences for children. In contrast with traditional museums that typically have a hands-off policy regarding exhibits, children's museums feat ...

located in

Everett, Washington Everett is the county seat and largest city of Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is north of Seattle and is one of the main cities in the metropolitan area and the Puget Sound region. Everett is the seventh-largest city in the ...

, USA, near Seattle.

History

The museum was founded in 1991 as the Children's Museum of Snohomish County, as part of a countywide initiative to establish children-oriented places in Snohomish County by the county government's Children's Commission. It opened in 1993 at a storefront in nearby Marysville, but was forced to move to a temporary space in downtown Everett in 1995. The county government planned to locate the museum permanently at

McCollum Park McCollum may refer to: *McCollum (surname), includes a list of people with the name *McCollum, Alabama, U.S., unincorporated community *McCollum Field, air field in Cobb County, Georgia, U.S. *McCollum High School Dillard McCollum High School i ...

in Mill Creek, but plans fell through during the late 1990s, leading to a donation by the Schack family to fund a permanent museum in downtown Everett. The new $4.75 million museum, a former Everett Mutual Bank branch with of space, opened on October 17, 2004, and was renamed the Imagine Children's Museum. In its first year at the expanded location, the museum reported an attendance of 146,000, more than quadruple its annual attendance at its temporary locations. According to the museum's website, in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, it served more than 248,000 people through the museum and outreach programming. In 2020, the museum announced plans for a four-story expansion that would add in the southern parking lot. Plans included a

construction crane A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped with a hoist rope, wire ropes or chains, and sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It is mainly used for lifting heavy objects and transpor ...

exhibit that would allow visitors inside the museum to step into the crane cab and pretend to be crane operators. The $25 million expansion project ultimately added a three-story expansion of 33,000 square feet (3,066 m²), doubling the museum's size. The LEED-certified building includes interactive, hands-on exhibit areas designed to promote children's active learning and healthy development through play. The expanded museum opened to members on August 19, 2022, and had a "soft opening" for the public on September 7, 2022. Its Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting event took place on October 29, 2022.

Exhibits and programs

Imagine Children's Museum offers playful learning areas children between the ages of 1 and 12 years. Some of the exhibits are reflective of life in Snohomish County, including a child-sized airplane cockpit, a bus donated by

Everett Transit Everett Transit is the public transit authority of Everett, Washington, the only city in Snohomish County not to belong to Community Transit. As of 2017, Everett Transit operates 42 buses within Everett on ten routes. Its annual ridership in 2016 ...

, and a theater stage. The museum's rooftop was converted into an outdoor playground in 2005, including a two-story wooden tower, climbing wall and other play areas. Exhibit areas in the new expansion include the ''Woodlands Adventure'', where children can climb among the trees of a make-believe forest, ''Puget Sound Ecosystem Gallery'', with a real gray whale skeleton and cold water aquarium, a ''Tinker Shop,'' where children learn to use real tools supervised by their caregivers, and ''Import, Export, Our Port'', where children can pretend to be a tugboat captain in the Port of Everett.

References

External links

* {{Museums in Puget Sound Museums in Snohomish County, Washington Children's museums in Washington (state) Buildings and structures in Everett, Washington Tourist attractions in Everett, Washington