Glazer Children's Museum-Tampa
With the help of numerous private and public partners, neighborhood volunteers helped found the Children’s Museum of Tampa in 1986. For more than 20 years, the Tampa Bay Area’s children and families have been served by the Children’s Museum of Tampa. The museum had modest beginnings in a small storefront location and offered exhibits that gave kids a secure environment in which to play and learn. The Glazer Children’s Museum focuses on providing children with an entirely interactive experience so they may discover via play and use their imaginations to bring the numerous kid-sized exhibits to life. In the fire station, kids can slide down a fire pole on their way to saving lives, learn about commerce and saving money at the bank, and try their hand at design and construction to fix an old house.
Future vets are able to examine x-rays and make treatment plans for patients, while future captains are able to steer a maritime vessel through a channel. They can explore many more adult careers as well as displays on robots, engineering, oceanography, and international cultures. In order to address the requirements of the community, museum volunteers and staff started considering the next stage of expansion in 2003. Plans for a brand-new, state-of-the-art Kid’s Museum in downtown Tampa were created after performing a feasibility study and soliciting feedback from more than 400 people.
Construction on the new structure began in March 2009 and was finished in April 2010 following a $22 million capital campaign. On September 25, 2010, the museum opened. The museum was given the name Glazer Children’s Museum in recognition of the $5 million donation from the Glazer Family Foundation. The museum served 250,000 visitors in its first year of existence, provided more than 25,000 entry tickets to juvenile populations who were underserved, and saw almost 26,000 kids during school field trips and educational events.