07 Oct The Magic City Discovery Center Ground Breaking
The Magic City Discovery Center broke ground on October 7 for the new 22,000 square-foot children’s museum located on Minot’s North Hill on Minot Park District property. The Magic City Discovery Center recently received a Department of Defense grant of more than $6 million to improve the quality of life for military families.
“The Minot Park District is proud to partner with the Magic City Discovery on this exciting addition to the Magic City,” said Ron Merritt, Executive Director of the Minot Park District. “We sincerely thank the Department of Defense for their financial support of the project along with the City of Minot. We also want to thank the North Dakota DOT for working with us to make this location possible. We are thankful for all the generous donors to the Magic City Discovery Center and are excited to move forward to making this dream a reality. We are a stronger community when we can work together to build a project that will be here for many generations of families to enjoy.”
“We are so thankful for all the community support that has made this possible,” said Karen Rasmusson, MCDC Board President. “Without the City of Minot, Minot Park District, Minot Area Community Foundation, Scheels, Engelstad Foundation, Ackerman Estvold and others, we would not be here today ready to build this world-class discovery center.”
The Minot Park District has a strong history of working with community partners on many successful projects including but not limited to the MAYSA Arena, the Roosevelt Park Zoo, the Scandinavian Heritage Park and now the Magic City Discovery Center. Projects such as these are a team effort and simply cannot happen without the support of the community.
“We are often referred to as the Magic City because of how fast our community formed so many years ago,” said Merritt. “We believe we continue to be the Magic City because of our citizens and community partners dedication to improving the quality of life for all.”
The project will be a 22,000 square-foot building with over 12,000 square feet of exhibits. There will be 12 STEAM-based interactive exhibit galleries designed for open-ended, layered learning from birth to age 14. These exhibits will allow children to discover, create, invent and play independently and collaboratively. Construction is scheduled to begin next spring with anticipated opening of late 2022.