This 1933 art deco building doubles as a train station and major tourist attraction. The Cincinnati Museum Center is home to the Cincinnati History Museum, an Omnimax theater, the Duke Energy Children’s Museum, the Museum of Natural History and Science, the Cincinnati History Library and Archives and the Cincinnati Railroad Club. Learn about history, trains, nature and science, watch a movie, or entertain the children with hands-on activities.
Stop to admire the architecture before going inside. Note the dome with limestone and glass facade and walls with bas-reliefs. Inside there are preserved mosaic murals from the 1930s.
The Cincinnati History Museum has an interesting exhibit of scale models of the city’s trains. You can also learn about the first settlers who founded the city in 1788, and the Great Depression.
Families should make a beeline for the Duke Energy Children’s Museum. Younger children can play in the streets of Kids’ Town. Older children can slide down trees and enter caves in The Woods.
A moon rock collected by Ohio-born Neil Armstrong is among the treasures in the Natural History and Science Museum. This museum is also aimed at children, with many hands-on activities. See what Ohio looked like 19,000 years ago when the last glacier was retreating from the region. Explore a replica of limestone caves with a real bat colony.
The Omnimax theater offers the latest films. You’ll find food and refreshments at several cafés and souvenirs in a number of shops.
The Cincinnati Museum Center is one mile (1.6 kilometers) north of Fountain Square. It’s open daily, with movie screenings at night. Pay to park or take the No. 1 bus from downtown. Buy an All Museum Pass for reduced entry. It includes tickets to the Omnimax theater.
