History

Early History and Need for Expansion

The DISCOVERY Children’s Museum (originally the Lied Discovery Children’s Museum) first opened in 1990 as part of a downtown Las Vegas library complex. After two decades, the Museum had outgrown its 35,000-square-foot space and faced challenges at its old location, including limited room for exhibits and declining visitation associated with sharing a site with a public library. By the late 2000s, Las Vegas city leaders and Museum officials were envisioning a new cultural corridor downtown – Symphony Park – which would host world-class arts venues. A larger, standalone children’s museum was seen as a key component of this vision, prompting plans to relocate and expand the Museum to better serve the community.

The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation’s Major Contribution

A pivotal moment in the Museum’s development was a major grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation in 2010. In August 2010, the Reynolds Foundation – already a primary donor to The Smith Center – announced an additional gift dedicated to completing the Symphony Park cultural complex. Of the roughly $50–55 million budget for the new museum facility, $43 million came from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. This extraordinary donation funded the construction of a three-story, 58,000-square-foot building to house the Museum, named the Donald W. Reynolds Discovery Center. The children’s museum itself undertook a capital campaign to raise the remaining funds (about $7–12 million) for exhibits and finishing costs. Local organizations stepped up during this campaign – for example, the Sands Foundation and the Windsong Trust each contributed $1 million toward new exhibits and programs. Construction of the Museum facility began in late 2010, alongside the final stages of The Smith Center’s build-out.

The new Donald W. Reynolds Discovery Center was structurally finished in time for The Smith Center’s grand opening in March 2012. Over the next year, the children’s museum installed all-new interactive exhibits and prepared the space for visitors. The Museum celebrated its grand opening at Symphony Park on March 9, 2013, officially debuting as the rebranded “DISCOVERY Children’s Museum” in its new home.

Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, the Museum was transformed into a larger, state-of-the-art destination with all-new exhibits, expanded galleries, and record-breaking attendance. Their gift continues to inspire learning, creativity, and DISCOVERY for hundreds of thousands of children and families each year.