The Cincinnati Museum Center (CMC) is being recognized among the top museums in the country! USA TODAY’s 10Best released their nominees for the nation’s best museums and CMC found itself on two lists: Best History Museum for the Cincinnati History Museum and Best Children’s Museum for its Children’s Museum!
Each category includes 20 finalists from across the country, with the winner decided following a four-week online vote. Voting is open now and ends at 11:59a EST February 13. Click here to vote Cincinnati History Museum for Best History Museum and the Children’s Museum for Best Children’s Museum.
The USA TODAY 10Best Reader’s Choice Awards finalists are selected by a panel of experts and editors. Each category includes 20 finalists from across the country, which are then ranked according to a fan vote over four weeks. Everyone can vote for each category once per day, per device.
CMC is a nationally-accredited museum recognized by the American Alliance of Museums for its excellence in the museum field. It opened in its current home at Union Terminal in 1990 with the Cincinnati History Museum, Museum of Natural History & Science and the Robert D. Lindner Family OMNIMAX® Theater. The Children’s Museum opened as part of CMC in 1998.
“For decades we’ve seen the impact our museums have had on our community as its grown, learned and made memories with us,” said Elizabeth Pierce, president and CEO of Cincinnati Museum Center. “Now is our opportunity to show the rest of the country how incredible our museums are and declare what we’ve always believed: we are not only the best museum in the country, we are the best museums in the country.”
The Cincinnati History Museum traces its roots to the Cincinnati Historical Society in 1831. It’s among the nation’s premier regional history museums, showcasing incredible historic artifacts alongside interactive experiences that transport guests to the city’s earliest days. The Cincinnati History Museum features five exhibits that invite guests to tower over a scale model reproduction of historic Cincinnati, walk the cobblestone streets of the mid-19th century riverfront, meet the innovators and entrepreneurs who powered Porkopolis and the Queen of the West, discover what has come to define the city as Cincinnati and explore the ways the city has shaped and been shaped by the land around it. Together, the exhibits take guests through more than 250 years of Cincinnati history, with additional galleries in development.
“History isn’t just about the past or some event frozen in time, it’s dynamic and informs who and where we are today,” said Pierce. “We’ve designed a history museum lets us travel to the past while finding its place in the present, being both immersive and introspective in a way that is both wildly enjoyable and powerfully informative.”
The Children’s Museum at the Cincinnati Museum Center opened in 1998 and is now helping its second generation learn through play. The museum turns unbound energy into unbridled curiosity as kids, and adults, splash, climb and play through 11 themed areas. Among the most popular areas is The Woods, where kids can explore two levels of a forest, climbing into the treetops, crawling through logs and peering inside an aquarium filled with local aquatic wildlife. With flowing streams, locks, geysers and jets, the power and properties of water spring to life in Water Works. Cause-and-effect and simple machines come to life as a blizzard of plastic balls cascade and float in the Energy Zone. Kids also learn about healthy food choices, sorting and job roles in a mini Kroger grocery and about proper oral health in a positive, inviting way by stepping Inside the Grin, a massive anatomically-accurate recreation of a mouth.
“It’s so important to instill a love of learning from an early age, which is why we’ve designed our Children’s Museum to not only be accessible to kids of every age and ability, but of every interest,” added Pierce. “As they play, they are learning about physics, biology, hygiene and engineering and, importantly, the value of being curious and trying new things.”