Two Cincinnati museums nominated for country's best

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 13, 2025
MEDIA CONTACT: Cody Hefner (513) 608-5777, chefner@cincymuseum.org

Cincinnati Museum Center again named finalist for country's best museums

Voting for best history museum and best children's museum open through Feb. 10

CINCINNATI –  Cincinnati Museum Center (CMC) is once again being recognized among the top museums in the country. USA TODAY’s 10Best released their nominees for the nation’s best museums and CMC found itself on two lists: Best History Museum for the Cincinnati History Museum and Best Children’s Museumfor its Children’s Museum. Each category includes 20 finalists from across the country, with the winner decided following a four-week online vote. Voting is open now at Voting ends at 11:59 a.m. EST February 10. 

Vote Best History Museum
Vote Best Children's Museum

CMC’s Cincinnati History Museum secured a top five finish in 2023 and was among the top three in 2024. The Children’s Museum finished among the top 10 in 2023 and was in the top five last year. CMC is hoping to climb in both categories again this year.

“Our nation has hundreds of incredible museums that are places for the constantly curious. It’s an honor to be recognized among them,” said Elizabeth Pierce, president & CEO of Cincinnati Museum Center. “That collaborative spirit doesn’t mean we’re not competitive. Cincinnati, it’s time to show the country that our city not only has some of the best museums; we have the best museums. Vote daily and help us bring home the award.”

The USA TODAY 10Best Reader’s Choice Awards finalists are selected by a panel of experts and editors. Each category includes 20 finalists from across the country, which are then ranked according to a fan vote over four weeks. Everyone can vote for each category once per day, per device.

CMC is a nationally-accredited museum recognized by the American Alliance of Museums for its excellence in the museum field. It opened in its current home at Union Terminal in 1990 with the Cincinnati History Museum, Museum of Natural History & Science and the Robert D. Lindner Family OMNIMAX® Theater. The Children’s Museum opened as part of CMC in 1998.

The Cincinnati History Museum traces its roots to the Cincinnati Historical Society in 1831. It’s among the nation’s premier regional history museums, showcasing incredible historic artifacts alongside interactive experiences that transport guests to the city’s earliest days. The Cincinnati History Museum features five exhibits that invite guests to tower over a scale model reproduction of historic Cincinnati, walk the cobblestone streets of the mid-19th century riverfront, meet the innovators and entrepreneurs who powered Porkopolis and the Queen of the West, discover what has come to define the city as Cincinnati and explore the ways the city has shaped and been shaped by the land around it. Together, the exhibits take guests through more than 250 years of Cincinnati history, with additional galleries in development.

“Our Cincinnati History Museum invites you to make history in interactive, immersive exhibits,” said Pierce. “It’s our opportunity to share our region’s treasures with new generations and to help them find their place in a vibrant future.”

The Children’s Museum opened in 1998 and is now helping its second generation learn through play. The museum turns unbound energy into unbridled curiosity as kids, and adults, splash, climb and play through 11 themed areas. Among the most popular areas is The Woods, where kids can explore two levels of a forest, climbing into the treetops, crawling through logs and peering inside an aquarium filled with local aquatic wildlife. With flowing streams, locks, geysers and jets, the power and properties of water spring to life in Water Works. Cause-and-effect and simple machines come to life as a blizzard of plastic balls cascade and float in the Energy Zone. Kids also learn about healthy food choices, sorting and job responsibilities in a mini Kroger grocery and about responsibilities at home through a mini house built by Fischer Homes. Plus, kids can begin language development and literacy skills in a park-themed environment that allows them to use felt cutouts to create story scenes, an interactive pond with animals that introduces action words and a story corner to read together.

“It’s so important to instill a love of learning from an early age, which is why we’ve designed our Children’s Museum to not only be accessible to kids of every age and ability, but of every interest,” added Pierce. “As they play, they are learning about physics, biology, hygiene and engineering and, importantly, the value of being curious and trying new things.”

Voting is open through February 10 at 11:59 a.m. EST. You can vote at10best.usatoday.com/awards/travel/best-history-museum-2025 and10best.usatoday.com/awards/travel/best-childrens-museum-2025, once per day, per category, per device.