History

Margaret Woodbury Strong, a prolific collector of everyday objects, especially dolls and toys, founded the museum in 1968. The next year, she died and left her considerable estate to help support it. Fourteen years later, the Margaret Woodbury Strong Museum opened in a new, 156,000-square-foot building on 13 acres in downtown Rochester.

Because nearly all of the things Mrs. Strong collected were mass-produced, initially the museum used them to examine ways in which industrialization changed everyday life. Within a few years, the museum’s focus turned specifically to the consequences of progress, the rise of the middle class, and expressions of identity.

In the mid 1990s, after in-depth market research and strategic analysis, the museum significantly increased programming for families. This led to major growth in attendance, and in1997, the museum added a new entrance atrium housing an early-1900s carousel and a 1950s diner as operating amenities.

In 2002, the museum acquired the National Toy Hall of Fame from the A. C. Gilbert Discovery Museum in Salem, Oregon, and the next year, following additional market studies, extensive scholarly and institutional research, and rigorous programmatic and financial planning, Strong determined to concentrate fully on its core collections. Combined, these half million objects form one the most comprehensive assemblages of dolls, toys, and other objects of play in the world. 

Between 2004 and 2006, Strong nearly doubled its physical plant, to 282,000 square feet. This made it the second-largest children’s museum in the United States and one of the nation’s largest history museums. The additions included one large and two smaller wings, two new museum shops, a food court with three restaurants, a new state-of-the-art collections storage facility, and a number of dynamic new exhibits, among them Reading Adventureland, Field of Play, and the Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden. During this same period, in consequence of our refined mission and expanded scope, the museum changed its name to Strong National Museum of Play.