 Front entrance of the museum at Wall St. and Hoyt Ave. (2004-2022) | |
 | |
| Established | 1991 |
|---|---|
| Location | 1502 Wall Street Everett, Washington |
| Coordinates | 47°58′39″N122°12′34″W / 47.97750°N 122.20944°W |
| Type | Children's museum |
| Website | www |
Imagine Children's Museum is a non-profit children's museum located in Everett, Washington, USA, near Seattle.
The museum was founded in 1991 as the Children's Museum of Snohomish County, as part of a countywide initiative to establish children-oriented places in Snohomish County by the county government's Children's Commission. It opened in 1993 at a storefront in nearby Marysville, [1] but was forced to move to a temporary space in downtown Everett in 1995. [2] The county government planned to locate the museum permanently at McCollum Park in Mill Creek, but plans fell through during the late 1990s, leading to a donation by the Schack family to fund a permanent museum in downtown Everett. [3]
The new $4.75 million museum, a former Everett Mutual Bank branch with 20,000 square feet (1,900 m2) of space, opened on October 17, 2004, and was renamed the Imagine Children's Museum. [4] [5] [6] In its first year at the expanded location, the museum reported an attendance of 146,000, more than quadruple its annual attendance at its temporary locations. [7] According to the museum's website, in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, it served more than 248,000 people through the museum and outreach programming. [8]
In 2020, the museum announced plans for a four-story expansion that would add 47,000 square feet (4,400 m2) in the southern parking lot. Plans included a construction crane exhibit that would allow visitors inside the museum to step into the crane cab and pretend to be crane operators. [9]
The $25 million expansion project ultimately added a three-story expansion of 33,000 square feet (3,066 m2), doubling the museum's size. The LEED-certified building includes interactive, hands-on exhibit areas designed to promote children's active learning and healthy development through play. The expanded museum opened to members on August 19, 2022, and had a "soft opening" for the public on September 7, 2022. Its Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting event took place on October 29, 2022.
Imagine Children's Museum offers playful learning areas children between the ages of 1 and 12 years. Some of the exhibits are reflective of life in Snohomish County, including a child-sized airplane cockpit, a bus donated by Everett Transit, and a theater stage. [10] The museum's rooftop was converted into an outdoor playground in 2005, including a two-story wooden tower, climbing wall and other play areas. [7] Exhibit areas in the new expansion include the Woodlands Adventure, where children can climb among the trees of a make-believe forest, Puget Sound Ecosystem Gallery, with a real gray whale skeleton and cold water aquarium, a Tinker Shop, where children learn to use real tools supervised by their caregivers, and Import, Export, Our Port, where children can pretend to be a tugboat captain in the Port of Everett. [11]
Arlington is a city in northern Snohomish County, Washington, United States, part of the Seattle metropolitan area. The city lies on the Stillaguamish River in the western foothills of the Cascade Range, adjacent to the city of Marysville. It is approximately 10 miles (16 km) north of Everett, the county seat, and 40 miles (64 km) north of Seattle, the state's largest city. As of the 2020 U.S. census, Arlington had a population of 19,868; its estimated population is 20,075 as of 2021.
Edmonds is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is located in the southwest corner of the county, facing Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains to the west. The city is part of the Seattle metropolitan area and is located 15 miles (24 km) north of Seattle and 18 miles (29 km) southwest of Everett. With a population of 42,853 residents in the 2020 U.S. census, Edmonds is the third most populous city in the county.
Lake Stevens is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States, that is named for the lake it surrounds. It is located 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Everett and borders the cities of Marysville to the northwest and Snohomish to the south. The city's population was 28,069 at the 2010 census, but has since grown to an estimated 33,911.
Lynnwood is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The city is part of the Seattle metropolitan area and is located 16 miles (26 km) north of Seattle and 13 miles (21 km) south of Everett, near the junction of Interstate 5 and Interstate 405. It is the fourth-largest city in Snohomish County, with a population of 38,568 in the 2020 U.S. census.
Marysville is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States, part of the Seattle metropolitan area. The city is located 35 miles (56 km) north of Seattle, adjacent to Everett on the north side of the Snohomish River delta. It is the second-largest city in Snohomish County after Everett, with a population of 70,714 at the time of the 2020 U.S. census. As of 2015, Marysville was also the fastest-growing city in Washington state, growing at an annual rate of 2.5 percent.
Mill Creek is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is located between the cities of Everett and Lynnwood, approximately 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Seattle. The city has a population of 20,926 as of the 2020 census. The city lies along State Route 527 and North Creek, a tributary of the Sammamish River, on the east side of Interstate 5.
Monroe is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is located at the confluence of the Skykomish, Snohomish, and Snoqualmie rivers near the Cascade foothills, about 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Seattle. Monroe's population was 19,699 as of the 2020 census and was estimated to be 20,209 in 2021.
Mountlake Terrace is a suburban city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It lies on the southern border of the county, adjacent to Shoreline and Lynnwood, and is 13 miles (21 km) north of Seattle. The city had a population of 19,909 people counted in the 2010 census.
Mukilteo is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is located on the Puget Sound between Edmonds and Everett, approximately 25 miles (40 km) north of Seattle. The city had a population of 20,254 at the 2010 census and an estimated 2019 population of 21,441.
Snohomish is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The population was 9,098 at the 2010 census. It is located on the Snohomish River, southeast of Everett and northwest of Monroe. Snohomish lies at the intersection of U.S. Route 2 and State Route 9. The city's airport, Harvey Airfield, is located south of downtown and used primarily for general aviation.
Stanwood is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The city is located 50 miles (80 km) north of Seattle, at the mouth of the Stillaguamish River near Camano Island. As of the 2010 census, its population is 6,231.
Sultan is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is located approximately 23 miles (37 km) east of Everett at the confluence of the Skykomish River and the Sultan River, a minor tributary. The city had a population of 4,651 at the 2010 census.
Bothell is a city in King and Snohomish counties in the U.S. state of Washington. It is part of the Seattle metropolitan area, situated near the northeast end of Lake Washington. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 48,161 residents.
Community Transit (CT) is the public transit authority of Snohomish County, Washington, United States, excluding the city of Everett, in the Seattle metropolitan area. It operates local bus, paratransit and vanpool service within Snohomish County, as well as commuter buses to Downtown Seattle and Northgate station. CT is publicly funded, financed through sales taxes, and farebox revenue, with an operating budget of $133.2 million. In 2022, the system had a ridership of 5,788,700, or about 21,900 per weekday as of the first quarter of 2023, placing it fourth among transit agencies in the Puget Sound region. The city of Everett, which serves as the county seat, is served by Everett Transit, a municipal transit system.
Seattle Paine Field International Airport, also known as Paine Field and Snohomish County Airport, is a commercial and general aviation airport serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. It is located in unincorporated Snohomish County, Washington, between the cities of Mukilteo and Everett, about 25 miles (40 km) north of Seattle. PAE covers 1,315 acres of land.
Everett Station is an Amtrak train station serving the city of Everett, Washington, United States. The station has provided service to the Cascades and Empire Builder routes since its opening in 2002, replacing an earlier station near the Port of Everett. The four-story building also houses social service programs and is the center of a 10-acre (4 ha) complex that includes parking lots and a large bus station used primarily by Community Transit, Everett Transit, and Sound Transit Express. The station has served as the northern terminus of the Sounder N Line since 2003 and the Swift Blue Line since 2009. It consists of two side platforms, one serving Amtrak and the other serving Sounder commuter trains. Everett Station also functions as a park and ride, with 1,067 short-term parking spaces located in lots around the station after it was expanded by Sound Transit in 2009.
The Minnesota Children's Museum is a children's museum in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1981 in Minneapolis, the museum moved to St. Paul in 1995.
Everett is the county seat and largest city of Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is 25 miles (40 km) north of Seattle and is one of the main cities in the metropolitan area and the Puget Sound region. Everett is the seventh-largest city in the state by population, with 110,629 residents as of the 2020 census. The city is primarily situated on a peninsula at the mouth of the Snohomish River along Port Gardner Bay, an inlet of Possession Sound, and extends to the south and west.
The Microsoft campus is the corporate headquarters of Microsoft, located in Redmond, Washington, United States, a part of the Seattle metropolitan area. Microsoft initially moved onto the grounds of the campus on February 26, 1986, shortly before going public on March 13. The headquarters has undergone multiple expansions since its establishment and is presently estimated to encompass over 8 million square feet (740,000 m2) of office space and have over 50,000 employees.
Washington State University Everett is a campus of Washington State University in Everett, Washington. The land-grant research university was founded in 1890 and the Washington State Legislature approved funding for WSU to expand to Snohomish County in 2011. The campus began with a 95,000-square foot building costing $64 million. The campus was founded in 2014, and courses began in the Fall of 2017.