Our History
A 23 year long story... so far!
The Northwoods Children’s Museum opened to the public in April of 1998 after a five year information campaign, capital campaign and renovation effort. The museum started with 13 hands-on exhibits. The original exhibits included a Medical Center, Grocery Store, Music Area, Computers, Imagination Station, Attic Dress-up Area, Ice Castle, Construction Junction, Shadow Room, Bubble Station, Pioneer Cabin, Fire Tower/Ranger Station, and Fishing Pond and River. Each exhibit was designed to stir curiosity and encourage further exploration.
The museum is organized as a non-profit corporation and is governed by a board of directors. The board meets monthly to review the general affairs of the Museum. Board members give direction to the museum in their areas of expertise.
The museum earns revenue through admissions, field trips, birthday parties, membership sales, facilitated workshops, meeting room rental, gift certificate sales and merchandise sales. Grant funds allow a limited number of income-qualified Vilas County families to receive annual memberships.
Since 1998, the museum added additional exhibits including the Reading Tree, Cozy Cottage, Snowmobile, WPS Energy Expedition, and Art Center. We have also made improvements to the original 13 exhibits and look forward to more new exhibits in the future!
