Description

The concept of OMSI was born more than 100 years ago in the mind of a Portland civil engineer, John Cyprian Stevens. In 1896, after visiting a temporary exhibition of natural history specimens at city hall, he challenged his Portland audience to provide a permanent site for the exhibition of Oregon's rich natural resources. It was not until 1944 that his idea began to take shape with the incorporation of the Oregon Museum Foundation and in 1946, the first collection of natural history objects were displayed by the Foundation at the Portland Hotel. Support for the museum continued to grow and in 1949, a house on NE Hassalo Street was donated to establish a museum and OMSI was born. Within a year, the Northwest's first public planetarium opened, which took visitors on a 20-minute trip to the stars under its dome.

By 1955, annual attendance at the Hassalo House had swelled to over 25,000. It was time for OMSI to expand. A group of civic-minded business and education leaders began a statewide fundraising campaign to build a new museum dedicated to science and technology. On August 17, 1957, J.C. Steven's dream of a hands-on museum became a shining reality. In the spirit of pioneer barn-raisings of the 19th century, over 400 volunteer union brick layers and hod carriers laid 102,000 bricks to raise the walls of OMSI's new Washington Park site. Over the next 35 years as a non-tax based private institution, OMSI's interactive science exhibits and educational programs introduced millions of visitors to the wonders of our world.

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