A
grassroots effort, headed by Joe and Billie Little, began to organize a
hands-on museum for Murfreesboro in late 1985.
Other founders included: Doyle and Cindy Boyd, Joan and David
Kellerman, Keith and Jill Shaver, Betsy Murfree, Rosalee Martin Landry,
Ron and Jennifer Bombardi, Susan McDougall, Lon and Christi Nuell.
Other early supporters included: Mayor Joe B. Jackson, Bart and
LeeAnne Walker, Chris and Mitzi Wyre, Donna and David Jones, Dan and
Alica Austin, Bob Parks, Bubba and Betty Anne Dempsey and George and
Marimae White.
Discovery
House chartered in 1986 as Children’s Museum Corporation of Rutherford
County, a 501c(3) hands-on museum.
After
an extensive grassroots campaign, a building was purchased and renovated
with the help of workhouse
labor overseen by Doyle and Cindy Boyd, Little and others. Fueled by
in-kind donations, exhibits and programs were gradually created.
Hundreds of volunteers painted, cleaned and prepared
Discovery House for opening just one year later, hosting 11,000
young visitors.
Utilization
grew from 11,000 in the first year to over 35,000 visitors annually,
with many additional children enjoying off-site museum-to-go programs
and activities at their school, local festivals and malls.
After several years, the current site was overflowing with
exhibits and visitors, resulting in the need to search for a new home.
In
1995 the Murfreesboro Water & Sewer Plant was vacated; a site
adjacent to 20 acres of wetlands. Congressman
Bart Gordon, Mayor Joe Jackson, Discovery House staff and The U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers began to study the possible reuse of existing
buildings for a museum/ nature center.
After several years of study, it was determined that the
buildings should be demolished for environmental reasons and that a new
structure should be built for the Discovery House.
The
City of Murfreesboro agreed to lease 6 ½ acres of city property to the
Discovery House for their use. The
Board of Directors succeeded in getting several property owners to
donate their property to the project, creating an urban wetlands
totaling 20 acres. The
Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency worked with the U.S. Corps of
Engineers to further study the site.
U.S. Congressman Bart Gordon was instrumental in securing federal
funding for the project.
The
Discovery House Board of Directors began a capital campaign in 1997 to
raise 1.8 million dollars to fund the building of the new Discovery
Center. The building design
was prepared by architect Jim Bailey of Johnson & Bailey Architects
with funding supplied by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The landscape plan was simultaneously being prepared by Lose
& Associates of Nashville.
By
the spring of 1999, under the leadership of President George Gardner,
$1.8 million had been raised by the Discovery House Board of Directors.
Exhibit planning was well underway through the efforts of a Board
exhibits committee working with a variety of educators, exhibit
developers, fabricators, designers and child development specialists.
In
September of 2000, the PCA was finally signed between the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers and the City of Murfreesboro.
A Groundbreaking event was held on October 28th after
which the Corps began the demolition of the Water and Sewer Building.
Construction on the 18,000 square foot Discovery Center began in
2001, and the Grand Opening was held on August 3, 2002.
