Living History Farms plans to expand with new visitor center, more classroom space

Phillip Sitter, Des Moines Register
·2 min read
A rendering shows plans for Living History Farms' proposed new visitor center, to be known as the Cultivation Center, which would include exhibition space.
A rendering shows plans for Living History Farms' proposed new visitor center, to be known as the Cultivation Center, which would include exhibition space.

Living History Farms in Urbandale announced Wednesday plans to raise money for building year-round features for the interactive agriculture and rural life history museum.

The plan is to build a new visitor center called the Cultivation Center, transform the existing visitor center into classroom and exhibition space with an expanded demonstration kitchen, and build a picnic pavilion. Elizabeth Keest Sedrel, spokesperson for Living History Farms, said the renovation "is going to change what we're able to provide" to visitors.

She said the current kitchen, for example, can't even fit the smallest groups of 10 children. And the size of the existing out-buildings usually limits the number of people who can be inside them often to five people at a time.

Living History Farms in Urbandale is snow-covered on Feb. 16, 2024. The museum is raising money to build permanent, year-round indoor spaces for its visitors and programming.
Living History Farms in Urbandale is snow-covered on Feb. 16, 2024. The museum is raising money to build permanent, year-round indoor spaces for its visitors and programming.

The outdoor museum with various out-buildings is currently only open for general tours from May through October, and that will not change.

"We're not duplicating or removing any of what makes Living History Farms special outside," said Ruth Haus, president of Living History Farms.

But permanent, year-round climate-controlled space will allow the museum to engage more students on field trips or enrolled in educational programs and to host exhibitions that highlight modern agriculture.

The estimated cost of the new construction and renovation is $6.2 million. Living History Farms kicked off a capital fundraising campaign on Wednesday and launched a website, CultivatingOurFuture.com.

A rendering shows proposed plans for what Living History Farms' complex would look like once a new visitor center is built and its existing one would be renovated to become classroom space.
A rendering shows proposed plans for what Living History Farms' complex would look like once a new visitor center is built and its existing one would be renovated to become classroom space.

The expansion project had been in the works for years before April 2020, when the museum was first prepared to announce it, but the COVID-19 pandemic and later construction cost increases postponed the project.

The plan now is to have the new and renovated buildings open in time for the United States' 250th anniversary in 2026, with the new visitor center to be ready by the end of summer 2025.

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Haus said the expansion would add an estimated $1 million to the museum's annual economic impact, which currently is $6 million.

She said more than 20,000 students visit the museum every year.

Phillip Sitter covers the western suburbs for the Des Moines Register. Phillip can be reached via email at psitter@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @pslifeisabeauty. 

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Living History Farms in Urbandale plans expansion, year-round activity