History
Since opening in 1979 as the region’s first and most successful hands-on children’s museum, The Magic House has sparked the imaginations and touched the lives of millions of visitors and is now a national attraction.
With more than 100 interactive exhibits, The Magic House has received national recognition for its exhibits and educational programming, and is now one of the most attended children's museums in the country with 400,000 visitors annually.
History of The Magic House
In 1975, The Magic House was founded by two St. Louis women Barbie Freund and Jody Newman who wanted to create the first totally hands-on children’s museum.
In 1976, as they searched for the perfect location, the founders discovered a 5,500-square-foot Victorian mansion at 516 S. Kirkwood Rd. and fell in love with its magical qualities. Built in 1901 or the George Lane Edwards family, the house had been purchased by the owners of the Riviera Townhouse Apartments next door who planned to tear it down and construct more apartment buildings on the site.
With much persuasion, the founders convinced the owners to save the house, one of the few Victorian homes left on Kirkwood Rd., and lease it to them with an option to buy.
In 1979, we debuted the region’s first hands-on museum that encourages interaction, experimentation and creativity. Originally designed to accommodate 30,000 visitors per year, 165,000 visitors toured the museum during its first year of operation.
In 1980, The Magic House opened the doors to the region’s students by launching a new field trip program. Now more than 40,000 children participate in classroom visits at the museum every year on a variety of tours with topics ranging from health and fitness to history and community education.
In 1985, we unveiled A Little Bit of Magic, a unique exhibit area designed specifically for the active and inquisitive learning style of young children from the ages of 1 through 6.
In 1991, The Magic House took hands-on learning on the road! New Magic House vans allowed us to annually bring educational outreach programs to 25,000 students in their own schools, daycare centers, homeless shelters and even hospital rooms. As a participant in the St. Louis Public Schools Community Partnership Program, our educators have brought innovative curriculum-enriching experiences to tens of thousands of urban students.
In 1997, we made more magic with an addition that more than doubled the size of the museum. This addition featured a Children's Village, Fitness Center, Math Path and an area just for infants, toddlers and parents, For Baby & Me. It also included an Education Center that enables us to accommodate even more students and greatly expand our educational outreach.
In 2001, our garden grew with Backyard Magic, an outdoor expansion project that features an open-air Education Pavilion, Children’s Sculpture Garden and Exhibit Patio, for amazing outdoor installations ranging from a gigantic sandcastle to a miniature safety town.
Today, plans are underway for another expansion that will double the size of the museum so it can accommodate more programs, more exhibits, more learning and more magic! The capital campaign goal is $12 million.
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