The new Museum of Science & History will reflect what designers consider "one of Northeast Florida’s most powerful natural assets," namely the St. Johns River. | MOSH
Published on May 2, 2025 at 4:40 pm
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Jacksonville’s Museum of Science & History plans to close its 56-year-old facility on the city’s Southbank by Sept. 1 and remain shut until a new museum opens on the Northbank in possibly three years.
Museum officials say the closure will allow staff to prepare for the opening of the new museum on 2.5 acres of the Shipyards along East Bay Street. A groundbreaking is expected in 2026.
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About 20% of the museum’s 30-member team will remain on staff to handle exhibit design and continue fundraising, MOSH CEO Alistair Dove said Friday. Some will be needed for the transition and others to help decommission the current building, he said.
“The team is out of necessity going to contract somewhat as we go through this metamorphosis from this museum to the future museum,” Dove said.
Dove explained why a multiyear closure is necessary.
“Money is certainly a factor, but there are other factors as well,” he said. “Think of the aging building we are in as well as the need to focus on designing the new museum experience. That is part of it as well. It is quite a bit to do that while also running an existing museum.”
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Even with MOSH closed, the museum will continue outreach to the community, Dove said.
The museum plans some “exciting summer activities” to celebrate MOSH’s legacy before the collections move into storage, he said. And the museum will continue to interact with children.
“Whereas previously kids might have come to the museum on big yellow buses from their school, we may now take a smaller bus from the museum to their school,” Dove said.
MOSH opened in 1969 at 1025 Museum Circle, 28 years after its founding as the Jacksonville Children’s Museum. Officials had initially planned to expand the existing 77,000-square-foot building, but the decision was made to build a new, larger home.
A consultant estimated that a 130,000-square-foot building on the Northbank would increase annual attendance from 175,000 to 469,000 and create 78 jobs.
The Downtown Investment Authority voted unanimously in 2021 to support a 40-year city lease for MOSH on 2.5 acres of the Shipyards along East Bay Street, with a riverwalk and planned park space.
The site is on EverBank Stadium’s Lot X across from Intuition Ale Works at East Bay Street and A. Philip Randolph Boulevard. It is just east of the Jacksonville Fire Museum and Pier 1, the home of the USS Orleck naval ship museum.
To fund the new museum, MOSH began a capital campaign and promoted its vision for the new museum.
MOSH said the exterior design was inspired by the flow of water that has played such an important role in Jacksonville’s history, with a heavy focus on the adjacent St. Johns River.
The museum’s initial price tag of $85 million had risen to $100 million by 2023 due to inflation and supply chain issues, and $95 million has been raised to begin construction. Dove said he is “excited to see what we can create.” But he would not estimate what the final cost might be.
“We have not settled on a final price tag yet. There is a combination of things going on with building design and the exhibits themselves,” Dove said. “And of course, it is a very dynamic time with the tariffs and other things that are affecting the economy.”
For more information, go to themosh.org.
