Exploreum Science Center
Established in 1983, the Exploreum Science Center (previously known as the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center) in Mobile, Mobile County, specializes in hands-on, interactive exhibits for people of all ages. Visitors can also enjoy short documentary films in the museum’s state-of-the-art Digital Dome theater.
Plans for a science center in Mobile began in the early 1970s, when the Junior League of Mobile formed a committee to research the possibility of founding a hands-on children’s museum. After years of study and advocacy, the organization donated $100,000 of seed money to the newly incorporated Explore Center (the nonprofit organization overseeing fundraising and planning for the museum) in 1979. The Explore Center was successful in raising more than $1.3 million in funds over the next few years. In 1980, the A. S. Mitchell Foundation (named for Alfred Summers Mitchell) contributed the Bragg-Mitchell Mansion and its surrounding land, located on Spring Hill Avenue, to the Explore Center organization. Rather than modifying the historic Bragg-Mitchell house, the Explore Center’s board of trustees opted to build the science museum on the adjacent property. On September 25, 1983, the Exploreum (the museum’s chosen name) opened to the public. (The museum would later change its name to the Gulf Coast Exploreum and IMAX Dome, the Gulf Coast Exploreum and Science Center, and, most recently, the Exploreum Science Center.)
The museum’s growth quickly outpaced the capacity of the original 10,000-square-foot space, and by 1987, its leadership had formed a relocation committee, which proposed a new site at the corner of Government Street and Water Street in downtown Mobile, at the location of a defunct police building and the Matt Sloan Fire Station. Both buildings were demolished to allow for the construction of the new Exploreum facility as part of several high-profile construction projects around that time aimed at revitalizing Mobile’s downtown area. Previously a National Historic Landmark, the fire station had been severely damaged by Hurricane Frederic in 1979.
In 1998, the museum expanded its exhibit space and added the J. L. Bedsole IMAX Dome Theatre, named for businessman Joseph Linyer Bedsole. In 2012, the museum added a new 5,000-square-foot space for special exhibits. In 2019, the Exploreum partnered with the Poarch Creek Indians to renovate the IMAX theatre into a D3D Cinema Dome Theater; the upgrade enabled the museum to show films with greater visual detail and allowed the dome screen to be used for interactive presentations and video conferencing.
The museum’s current permanent attractions include the Hands on Hall, a gallery with numerous mini-exhibits where visitors of all ages can explore science and technology through play; the Wharf of Wonder, a nautical-themed play area for children up to age 5; and the My BodyWorks exhibit, which features a variety of interactive displays on the human body. Recently updated with the support of a local steel-processing facility, the AM/NS Calvert Curiosity Factory features a variety of spaces and materials arranged to let visitors hone their engineering skills. The museum frequently hosts temporary special exhibits on an array of subjects. Previous special exhibits have included traveling collections on ancient Egypt, the history of technology in China, the International Space Station, Pompeii, Italy, sea lions, kangaroos, and Genghis Khan. Alongside its exhibits, the museum’s Poarch Creek Indian Digital Dome Theater offers a rotation of short documentary films each day.
The Exploreum also employs a staff of STEM educators who offer programming for children and community members. The education team designs an array of special programs for the many young people who visit the museum on school field trips. In addition, they host Exploreum Academy, a summer day camp for children ages 4-13; Exploreum Academy sessions are also available in the fall and spring. Through the museum’s outreach program, education staff members also travel to give presentations to student groups in classrooms and school auditoriums around the state. Other offerings include birthday parties and overnight museum experiences.
The Exploreum has been recognized with numerous awards throughout the years. In 2008 and 2021, it was named Attraction of the Year by the Alabama Tourism Department. The museum also won Mobile’s local Nappie Award for Best Kid Friendly Attraction every year from 2015 through 2019 and Best Summer Camp in 2020 and 2021. (The Nappie Awards are the reader-selected community awards of Lagniappe Daily, a Mobile newspaper.) The museum’s creative team has also won awards for its advertising work, including American Advertising (ADDY) Awards and Telly Awards for commercials and campaigns to promote the special exhibits Cuba and Mobile: An Exploreum Experience and Genghis Khan Invasion.
The Exploreum is owned by the Explore Center, Inc., the same nonprofit that owns the Bragg-Mitchell Mansion, and is governed by a board of trustees.
