Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science and Technology

Museum of Science and Technology in Syracuse, NY

The Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science and Technology (often referred to as the MOST) is a museum located in the Armory Square neighborhood of Downtown Syracuse, New York. The museum includes multiple exhibits and a domed IMAX movie theatre. It is located in a historic building, the former Syracuse Armory.

The seed was planted for a science museum in Syracuse that would appeal both to children and adults, when the Junior League, National Council of Jewish Women and the Technology club joined forces in 1977.

In 1979, the goals were set to develop a center where scientific and technological information would be presented to involve the general public, students and the technical community around Syracuse, to use participatory exhibits and educational programs extensively, and to encourage creativity and involvement.

The original museum, then known as the Discovery Center, opened its doors on November 15, 1981 in a storefront at 321 South Clinton Street in downtown Syracuse. This first hands-on, participatory science museum in Upstate New York hosted over 42,000 in its first year and consistently had the highest visitor density ratio in the nation.

The Discovery Center received prestigious Institute of Museum Services operating grants and still holds the record for receiving its absolute museum charter from the New York State Board of Regents in the shortest period of time!

By the late 1980s, museum officials began to consider a new location for the museum, which had become an important community asset visited by more than 800,000 people. At the same time, local officials were considering what to do with the old Armory in downtown Syracuse.

In 1992, New York State and the federal government accepted the Discovery Center’s proposal to open a Museum of Science & Technology (MOST) in the Armory building at 500 South Franklin Street in historic Armory Square. Then, on October 27, 1992, the MOST, hosting exciting new hands-on exhibits and the Silverman Planetarium, opened to the public.

With MOST in its Armory location, new possibilities continued to open up, most notably the 216-seat Bristol IMAX® Omnitheater, which opened to the public in January 1997. As the first such facility in New York State, this state-of-the-art, giant dome theater offered a whole new movie experience to Central New York audiences and caused annual attendance at the MOST to surpass 200,000 annually. In addition, the MOST opened the Horowitz Traveling Exhibit Area, giving the museum the ability to display phenomenal world-class exhibits such as Engineer It!, Dinomania and Richard Scarry’s Busytown.

As one of seven magnet tourist attractions in Central New York, the MOST continues its role as museum, theater, community center and economic anchor for downtown Syracuse and historic Armory Square.

Permanent exhibits include: Earth Science Discovery Cave, Life Sciences, the Lockheed Martin Flight & Space exhibit, Science Playhouse and Technotown.

The MOST also is home to the MOST Science Shop where toys, games, and science education products can be purchased for gifts, birthdays, or your classroom.

External links

• Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science and Technology

Coordinates: 43°02′49″N 76°09′16″W / 43.047032°N 76.15448°W / 43.047032; -76.15448

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