
Hands On is the brainchild of a group of south sound parents who organized a roving museum without walls back in 1987. The group would develop theme based exhibitions and set them up wherever they could get space. The group acquired a brick and mortar space on Franklin street in 1994 but with 15,000 visitors /year the museum outgrew that site. In 1998 they landed a former restaurant space located kiddy-corner from Captial Campus on the corner of 11th and Capital. With a growing audience, they knocked down walls and enlarged allowing them to host an average of 100,000 visitors /year.
Public Facilities District, PFD, funds allowed the city of Olympia to allocate $7 million in seed money to the museum. Olympia leaders contributed $1million more and then purchased some land to construct the building. The leaders struck a deal to lease the museum building to the non-profit for $1/year. The museum organization agreed to raise the remaining $18.5 million for the building’s interior.
The result is a huge benefit to the community as the indoor/outdoor learning facility expands experiential learning with endlessly creative environments. The museum is expected to draw over 200,000 visitors annually.