Mayborn Museum Complex | Waco

The Mayborn Museum Complex is a premier educational and cultural institution located on the Baylor University campus in Waco, Texas. Designed to inspire curiosity across ages, the museum blends natural science, cultural heritage, hands-on learning, and immersive exhibits. It functions as a teaching museum for Baylor students while also welcoming over 100,000 public visitors annually.

Founding and Purpose

The Mayborn Museum Complex opened in 2004, uniting several predecessor institutions:

Strecker Museum: the oldest continuously operating museum in Texas until 2003, housing extensive natural science and archaeology collections.

Ollie Mae Moen Discovery Center: a hands-on science and children’s museum founded in the 1960s.

Governor Bill and Vara Daniel Historic Village: a preserved 1890s rural Texas village transferred from Liberty, Texas.

The museum’s goal is to foster interdisciplinary education and regional heritage preservation, combining university-level scholarship with family-friendly interactivity.

Building and Layout

The museum spans approximately 143,000 square feet and includes:

Permanent exhibit halls on natural history and regional culture

A two-story discovery center for children’s hands-on learning

Rotating special exhibitions

A research and collections wing

The Governor Bill and Vara Daniel Historic Village, a nine-structure outdoor exhibit

It is a Smithsonian Affiliate, giving it access to national traveling exhibits, artifact loans, and educational resources.

Key Permanent Exhibits

1. Natural and Cultural History Exhibits

Waco Mammoth Site Exhibit: Replicates the in-situ fossil layout of a Columbian mammoth nursery herd, with life-size casts and detailed interpretations.

Cretaceous Sea: Showcases fossils and reconstructions of marine reptiles and sea life from the era when Central Texas was underwater, including a massive pliosaur model.

Strecker’s Cabinets of Curiosities: Evokes the 19th-century model of natural history collecting, featuring taxidermy, oddities, and rare geological specimens.

Hall of Natural History: Includes dioramas of local habitats such as prairies, forests, and caves with native wildlife and detailed settings.

Texas Lifeways: Explores the diverse living traditions of Indigenous, immigrant, and settler groups through full-scale replicas of dwellings including:

Waco Indian grass house

Norwegian rock house

Comanche tipi

German log cabin

2. Children’s Discovery Center

A two-floor interactive wing with themed rooms designed to promote inquiry-based learning. Key features include:

Invertebrate and vertebrate fossil digs

Water table and bubble science areas

Simple machines and construction exhibits

Light, magnetism, and weather stations

Ideal for families, school groups, and young learners, the Discovery Center integrates STEM education with play.

Governor Bill and Vara Daniel Historic Village

Located behind the main building along the Brazos River, this nine-building outdoor complex recreates a late 19th-century rural Texas village. Buildings include:

One-room schoolhouse

General store

Church

Seated home

Log cabins

Blacksmith shop

The village is used for historic interpretation events, reenactments, and seasonal programs. Docents and costumed interpreters sometimes demonstrate activities like quilting, butter-churning, or woodworking.

Temporary and Rotating Exhibits

The museum frequently hosts traveling exhibits on science, history, and art, brought in from institutions such as the Smithsonian and Science Museum of Minnesota. Past topics have included:

Space exploration

Dinosaurs and megafauna

Ancient Egypt

Environmental sustainability

The museum updates its gallery space to reflect contemporary themes or to showcase local and student research.

Educational Programming

Field Trips and Tours: Serves thousands of Central Texas students yearly with curriculum-aligned visits.

Workshops and Camps: Offers science and art-focused programs during school breaks.

Public Lectures: Hosts Baylor faculty and guest scholars to discuss topics in anthropology, paleontology, and museum studies.

Internships: Provides Baylor students hands-on training in curation, collections management, and museum education.

Research and Collections

Behind the scenes, the museum maintains a collection of over 175,000 specimens and artifacts in fields including:

Paleontology (notably Ice Age and marine fossils)

Ethnography (including Native American and Texas settler materials)

Historical documents, tools, and textiles

Researchers from Baylor and other universities use the collections for academic study. The museum also collaborates with the Waco Mammoth National Monument for paleontological research and education.

Access, Hours, and Admission

Location:
1300 S. University Parks Drive, Waco, TX 76706
(Between the Brazos River and Baylor’s campus)

Hours:

Monday–Saturday: 10 AM – 5 PM

Sunday: 1 PM – 5 PM

Closed major holidays

Admission:

Adults: $10

Children (ages 2–12): $8

Seniors (65+): $9

Baylor Students and Museum Members: Free

Group discounts and field trip rates are available.

Community Impact and Recognition

The Mayborn Museum is a cultural anchor in Central Texas, fostering public understanding of regional identity and global science. Its Smithsonian affiliation, robust educational offerings, and deep local partnerships have positioned it as a model for university-community engagement.

Plans for future expansion include:

The Cultural Crossroads exhibit (2026), focused on Central Texas’s multicultural heritage

Upgrades to accessibility and interactive technology

Deeper integration with digital learning platforms

Whether you're a child discovering fossils for the first time, a student learning Texas history, or a researcher examining Ice Age bones, the Mayborn Museum offers a deeply engaging experience rooted in discovery.