The Museum of Discovery in downtown Little Rock evolved from a small institution founded in 1927 by Bernie Babcock into one of the city’s leading family-oriented cultural institutions. Created after criticism that Arkansas lacked cultural centers, it passed to the city in 1929 and later occupied the Little Rock Arsenal for decades before relocating to the River Market in 1997 and 1998. Renamed several times as its focus grew more professional, it became an accredited museum in 1993 and increasingly emphasized interactive science education. Major renovation funding in 2008 helped shape its modern STEM mission, highlighted by exhibits such as its record-sharing musical bi-polar tesla coil.