Generations of Charlotte children have been introduced to the wonders of the natural world and the principles of science inside Discovery Place, the science museum you see here. The museum opened in its current uptown location in 1981, the product of decades of effort by Charlotte civic leaders who believed a growing city needed a world-class science institution at its center. The building features a tropical rainforest environment, an aquarium, a planetarium, and hands-on exhibits that make abstract scientific concepts tangible and exciting.
For many Charlotteans who grew up in the region, a school field trip to Discovery Place is one of their earliest memories of uptown — a childhood introduction to a downtown that might otherwise have felt distant or intimidating. The museum has been renovated and expanded several times to keep pace with the city's growth and with advances in science education. It sits in the cultural corridor of uptown alongside the libraries and arts institutions that make this part of the city feel like the civic heart it was always meant to be.