Kingman Museum, Natural History and Planetarium

Kingman Museum is southwest Michigan's only natural history museum! What started as a small collection of specimens and artifacts donated by Edward Brigham, Sr. in the late nineteenth century expanded into the Public School Museum, one of the first museums in America to be owned and operated by a public schools system. With Brigham as its first director, the museum continued grow. In 1933, Brigham moved the museum and its collections into a new building located on an 80 acre plot of land donated to the city of Battle Creek by Leila Post Montgomery. Renamed the Kingman Museum of Natural History in honor of Emma C. Kingman, the museum looks over beautiful Leila Arboretum to this day. In the late 1990s, the Battle Creek Public Schools system were no longer able to fund the museum. After a temporary shutdown, the museum reopened in 2003 as a not for profit institution under the direction of a dedicated board of directors. Kingman Museum is dedicated to advancing science education in the Battle Creek community and beyond. Its three floors of exhibits cover all areas of science, from biology to anthropology. The museum is open to the public Fridays from noon-6:00 p.m. and Saturdays from noon-4:00 p.m. Planetarium shows play at 12:15, 1:15, 2:15, and 3:15 both days. The cost of admission is $7 adults, $6 seniors, $5 students, $20 family pass for up to 6 members, and FREE to all military members through Labor Day.