Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
The place behind the detail.
A scientific society, a building in Hermann Park and more than a century of collecting offer several ways into the museum’s story.
On this page
A scientific society
The museum traces its beginnings to the Houston Museum and Scientific Society, founded in 1909. Much of its first collection was gathered between 1914 and 1930.
It became the Houston Museum of Natural Science in 1960 and moved into its building on the northern edge of Hermann Park, completed in 1969.
Halls that keep growing
The Burke Baker Planetarium opened in 1969 and the Cockrell Butterfly Center in 1994. The Morian Hall of Paleontology wing opened in 2012 and the Hall of Ancient Egypt in 2013.
The Herzstein Foucault Pendulum, on a cable more than 60 feet long, shows the turning of the Earth through the day.
A museum for many visitors
In 2024 about 1.5 million people visited the museum, which made it one of the most visited museums in the United States.
This history belongs to the place and the people who shaped it. The History page offers a longer introduction, and the timeline gives a short route through selected milestones.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
