Mississippi pearl shines
Science Museum takes shape with West Siders’ help
By Jon Kerr
Like a diamond in the
rough (or perhaps a Mississippi oyster pearl) the shine on St. Paul’s crown jewel
seemingly grows clearer every day.
PCL Construction workers are gradually finishing up work on the new Minnesota Science
Museum in preparation for turning over the $96 million facility to museum exhibit
designers, community programmers and other museum staff. In the next month, the
approximately 1.75 million artifacts of the current Wabasha Street facility will be moved
to the new riverfront site. On a mid-level floor, several dinosaur skeletons - carefully
wrapped in protective plastic - already stand guard. Above them the tugboat “Charles
E.,” a centerpiece of the new Mississippi Gallery, is clearly visible on an outdoor
balcony - even though the first public visitors aren’t expected until December 11.
The anticipation is clearly evident in talking to museum staff, many of whom have
awaited the move ever since it first was presented to city and state officials in 1993 as
an opportunity to revitalize the long neglected West Side area between the Wabasha and
Robert Street bridges. That site was soon dropped in favor of the Kellogg Boulevard
location, but the concept of a facility with the ability to serve both the museum and the
entire community lives on.
“We want this to be a 24-hour-a-day facility and get the maximum use for the
community, which has paid a lot of money for it,” said Science Museum President Jim
Peterson, as he proudly pointed out the new facility’s coming attractions. “That
other site would have been great. But we’re happy here now and we’re committed
to making connections.”
While many West Siders once envisioned the new Science Museum on their side of the
river, the new structure rapidly nearing completion on the downtown St. Paul bluffs still
has human ties that span the Mississippi River. Indeed, several key staff members during
planning and transition from the old to new museum begin each day by crossing the river
and gaging the new facility’s construction progress.
“It’s really nice when I’m going over the High Bridge or the Wabasha
Bridge to see the new museum and to see the impact every day,” said Wesley
Saunders-Pierce, a West Sider and Assistant Project Manager for the Science Museum, whose
job includes helping to coordinate the physical move of exhibits and artifacts.
“There’s a lot of interest and curiosity from staff and visitors to get down to
the site right now. So I end up doing a lot of balancing because it’s still a
construction site.”
Even with nearly doubled space, to approximately 325,000 square feet including a new,
upgraded Omnitheater, 3D Laser Theater, rooftop restaurant and other additions, the new
Science Museum has required some tough planning decisions and behind-the-scenes
negotiations to find appropriate office or work space areas for approximately 350
employees.
But Saunders-Pierce is confident that the new museum layout will please both staff and
visitors, from the moment they enter into the Mississippi Gallery area and are able to
look down to floors of exhibit space below and out through a wall of giant windows toward
the river and the West Side beyond.
“It’s a very wholistic feeling for me,” he said. “Both from an
aesthetic standpoint and also from transforming an industrial area to something more
pleasing and open to the public, I think it’s something to really feel good
about.”
Paul Martin, Head of Exhibits Development, came back to work on the Science Museum project after participating in the 1992 opening of the Minnesota History Center and, before that, the mid-1970’s opening of the current Science Museum.
His third hometown museum opening will be nearly visible across the river valley from
his home on Isabel.
“One of the really exciting things is that there’s now going to be this
direct connection down the bluff to the river and it’s almost a new way to get to see
Harriet Island and the West Side,” he said, referring to a Science Museum stairway
that will allow visitors to walk from Kellogg Boulevard to the river flats near Shepard
Road. “And now the Science Museum has become the new bluff we get to look at. ...As
the museum continues to grow and develop it’ll be a real swell garden to look
at.”
The new facility’s ability to handle expanded educational programs may also lead
to additional benefits for nearby neighborhoods, argues Adelle Bining, who points to a new
“Human Body” exhibit that will include some emphasis on adolescent health
issues.
“It’s
one of the things that has me excited about being right across from the West Side,”
she said. “The Science Museum will be such easy access. Hopefully it can relate to
some of the young people of the community.”
For Martin however, it may the river which serves as the main point of
reference on both sides of the Mississippi, statewide and even beyond.
“We’re on the river and the river runs through a lot of
Minnesota. Through the river we can address a lot of issues that are important to people.
...It connects Minnesota and a lot of the country,” he said, referring to cultural
and natural history perspectives that will be reflected in the Mississippi Gallery.
“When you think about it - the barges, the transportation and everything -
there’s really not anybody you can say is not affected by the Mississippi.”
And a most obvious part of that connection will be Martin’s backyard, visible
every time he looks out the Science Museum windows.
“One of our immediate neighborhoods is the West Side. We want to continue to do more to be welcoming and accessible,” he said. “Maybe it will help to have a few of us living there.”