Cleveland Museum of Natural History

The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum located in University Circle, a special area filled with schools, art places, and hospitals, about five miles east of Downtown Cleveland in Ohio, United States. It was started in 1920 by Cyrus S. Eaton to help people learn about many interesting subjects like humans and other animals, plants, rocks, stars, and old times. The museum’s history goes back even further, to groups formed in the 1800s by people like William Case and Jared Potter Kirtland.

One of the most exciting discoveries connected to the museum happened when Donald Johanson, who worked there as a teacher of human history, found the bones of “Lucy”. Lucy was an ancient human-like creature called an hominid, specifically an Australopithecus afarensis. Today, the museum has teachers who study human health, how humans changed over time, and the history of people.

The museum has been working on a big project to make it even better. In June 2019, they chose a design company called the DLR Group to help plan changes. In June 2021, they started building a new place for visitors to enter and see exhibits. After many years of work, the changes were finished in December 2024, making the museum more wonderful than ever.

History

The Cleveland Museum of Natural History began its story in the 1830s with a small collection called the Ark, housed in a two-room house in Cleveland. This collection included animals preserved for study and was passed down through generations. Over time, the collection moved to different locations around the city.

The museum as we know it today was founded in 1920. It started in a small office and later moved to a mansion. Over the years, it grew by adding new buildings and exhibits. In 1958, it moved to its current home in University Circle. Since then, the museum has expanded many times, adding spaces for exhibits, learning, and storing collections. In recent years, the museum completed a big project to renew and enlarge its buildings, finishing earlier than planned. Today, it covers a large area and offers many ways for people to learn about nature and history.

Collections

The Cleveland Museum of Natural History has millions of specimens for visitors to learn from. These include fossils, animal skeletons, rocks and minerals, and many other scientific items.

Some of the most interesting pieces in the museum are:

• Many fossils of ancient fish from the Devonian period, including big skulls of a fish called Dunkleosteus.
• Over 900 skeletons of monkeys and apes, and more than 3,100 human skeletons (the Hamann-Todd Collection).
• A famous skull of a young Tyrannosaurus that helped scientists understand this dinosaur.
• The original skeleton of a dinosaur called Haplocanthosaurus, known as “Happy,” on display since October 2023.
• The most complete skeleton of a small dinosaur called Coelophysis, made from many skeletons found in New Mexico.
• The mounted remains of Balto, a famous sled dog, on display since October 2023.
• A piece of rock from the Moon and a special collection of colorful gems.
• Replicas of famous dinosaurs like Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus, as well as a young tyrannosaur named Jane.
• A real mammoth on display, along with other ancient elephant-like creatures called mastodons.
• A copy of an early human ancestor skeleton called Lucy.
• A big skeleton of a dinosaur called Allosaurus on display.
• Over 30,000 fossils of plants from the University of Cincinnati.
• A special swinging weight (pendulum) and a time capsule buried in 1996 to be opened in 2046.

The museum also has a special collection of over 3,100 human skeletons and more than 900 primate skeletons, started in 1893 and moved to the museum later.

The Perkins Wildlife Center, which opened in 2016, shows live animals and plants from Ohio.

The museum also has many beautiful artworks, including a large Stegosaurus sculpture called Steggie, pieces showing ancient mastodons and mammoths, a big limestone bear called Old Grizzly, and many paintings and models of animals and plants from famous artists.