Cleveland Museum of Natural History

The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum located approximately five miles (8 km) east of downtown Cleveland, Ohio in University Circle, a 550-acre (220 ha) concentration of educational, cultural and medical institutions. The museum was established in 1920 by Cyrus S. Eaton to perform research, education and development of collections in the fields of anthropology, archaeology, astronomy, botany, geology, paleontology, wildlife biology, and zoology. The museum traces its roots to the Ark, formed in 1836 on Cleveland's Public Square by William Case, the Academy of Natural Science formed by William Case and Jared Potter Kirtland, and the Kirtland Society of Natural History, founded in 1869 and reinvigorated in 1922 by the trustees of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Donald Johanson was the curator of the museum when he discovered "Lucy," the skeletal remains of the ancient hominid Australopithecus afarensis. The current Curator and Head of the Physical Anthropology Department is Yohannes Haile-Selassie. The museum has embarked on a multi-year, $150 million renovation and expansion project. DLR Group was selected to design the project in June 2019, and the museum broke ground on its new visitor hall, lobby and exhibit wing in June 2021. A new entrance and other upgrades opened in December 2022. The project is scheduled to be completed in December 2024, two years ahead of the original schedule. The Cleveland Museum of Natural History traces its founding, in part, back to the 1830s. A two-room frame house located on the northeast side of Public Square, known as the Ark, housed taxidermy ranging from birds to reptiles and mammals. This was the collection of Leonard Case Sr., who passed the collection and building to his sons Leonard Case Jr. and William Case. The Ark was frequented by a group of 26 men known as Arkites. These men collected, researched, and discussed findings with each other. There were no museums in Cleveland at the time. In 1876 the Ark moved to nearby Case Hall.