The Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium is a combination museum and planetarium located in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. It was founded in 1891, by Franklin Fairbanks. The museum and its building are on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
There is also a planetarium and weather forecasting department entitled Eye on the Sky weather station. Meteorologists broadcast their unique weather forecasts for Vermont (and the areas immediately around the state) on Vermont Public Radio and Magic 97.7 daily. The museum also produces daily weather forecasts for three newspapers: The Caledonian Record, the Times Argus, and the Rutland Herald.
History
Construction on the museum building was started in July 1890, and finished in June 1891. The building features red sandstone and limestone laid in Romanesque style. It was designed by architect Lambert Packard. The museum was opened in December 1891 by Franklin Fairbanks. The museum was expanded in 1894, to hold the full collection of Fairbanks.
In part the tradition of the museum reporting weather atmospheric conditions, comes from Fairbanks' on tradition of doing it. Many of the main collections in the contemporary museum, come from Fairbanks own collection.
Contemporary collection
The museum is organized into 3 different departments: Natural Science, Historical, and Ethnological. The entire collection includes 160,000 objects.
Praise and recognition
The museum was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. The listing included one contributing building and two contributing objects.
In 2010, Yankee magazine named Fairbanks as the second best history museum in New England.
See also
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Caledonia County, Vermont
References
External links
- Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium - official site
