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In the Museum's new three-story Time Tower exhibit opening this spring, visitors will explore Austin's history from an Inland Sea to the booming city it is today. Young visitors will crawl, climb, rock, listen, and play their way to the top of time and then spin back down inside the Time Slide which is sure to be a big thrill. Join us on our behind-the-scenes journey, showcasing the people, places, and things that make Austin the city we call home.
Crawl through this dimly-lit tunnel to discover fossils of sea creatures like ammonites and trilobites that swam in this area under a warm, shallow sea 20,000 years ago. A very, very long time ago in Austin, there were no buildings and no streets and no people! Many different animals lived here. Dinosaurs like the bird-footed Hadrosaurus and the 30-foot long Mosasaur, walked and swam where we live today. Mammoths lived where Austin is about 12,000 years ago. The male mammoth weighed about 10,000 pounds and was about 13 feet tall. Mammoths could live for 50 - 70 years. Explore the prehistoric cave and discover what bones paleontologists found while excavating for a Congress Avenue building. See yourself in Austin history. A multimedia station captures your image and you see yourself standing beside a mammoth, saber tooth tiger, and Triceratops.
American Indians have lived in Texas for thousands of years. Discover the primary American Indian tribe that inhabited this region and the great herds of buffalo that roamed here. American Indians had the land to themselves until the King of Spain claimed what is now Mexico three hundred years ago. The Spanish eventually spread into this region to build roads, cities and churches. After claiming the land as their own, the Spanish named this place "Tejas" which is an American Indian word meaning "friendly people." Today, our lone star state is called Texas. Discover how Austin got its name, how Texas got its independence. See yourself with Miriam Ma Ferguson, the first female governor of Texas. Sit inside the 500-year old oak tree that witnessed Austin's history from before the buffalo to the present and listen to the stories of Austin's past. What would it be like to ride in a covered wagon? What would you bring with you? How many people could ride in a covered wagon?
See how the Texas State Capitol Building has changed over time due to feuding, politicians and fires. Devastating floods have dotted Austin's history. One of the most dramatic events during the flood of 1935 was captured in a photo of a house floating over a dam. Climb inside a replica of this house and rock yourself and your family over the dam. Sit inside a child-size replica of a Model T and pretend to zoom down Congress Avenue in the early part of the century. Discover the people, places and things that changed and challenged Austin in the last century. Contemplate the future: see yourself in a microchip and then climb into the reading nook to peer through the colorful Time Tower clock gears overlooking the Museum gallery.
Who will make our future history? YOU!
Slide back down through time and begin all over again.
This preview is reproduced from the newsletter of the Austin Children's Museum. © 1998 Austin Children's Museum.