McWane Science Center
111 19th St N, Birmingham, AL
Birmingham, AL
A grand old downtown department store now holds sharks, dinosaurs, and a dome theater, four floors of hands-on science in the heart of Birmingham.
McWane Science Center is a hands-on science museum and aquarium set in a grand former department store in downtown Birmingham. Spread over several floors, it mixes interactive physics and engineering exhibits, an aquarium wing, a collection of Alabama fossils and dinosaurs, and a domed big-screen theater, making it one of the leading family destinations in the state.
The center grew out of two older Birmingham institutions and opened in its current downtown home in the late 1990s, taking over the old Loveman's department store building. Behind the science on display is a serious research side, too: the museum is a repository for fossils that document Alabama's remarkable prehistoric past, when much of the state lay beneath a shallow sea.
What Guests Love
- Hands-on exhibits across several floors that let kids and adults tinker and explore
- An aquarium wing with sharks, stingrays, and a touch tank
- Alabama's own dinosaurs and fossils, drawn from the state's rich geologic past
- The domed theater with big-screen science films
Worth Knowing
- This is one of the region's top rainy-day and family destinations, so weekends and school holidays are busiest
- The historic building has multiple floors; allow a few hours to see it all
- It sits in walkable downtown Birmingham near several other attractions
- Some special exhibits and the dome theater rotate through the year, so it is worth checking what is on
Details
Birmingham, AL
Learn about McWane Science Center
From department store to science center
The building McWane occupies was once Loveman's, one of Birmingham's great downtown department stores, a landmark of the city's retail era. When the science center opened here in the late 1990s, it brought new life to the historic structure and to a stretch of downtown, combining the collections and missions of two earlier Birmingham museums under one roof.
The center is named for the McWane family and the McWane company, a longtime Birmingham manufacturer whose philanthropy helped make it possible. The result is a museum that fits the character of the city: a place of industry and reinvention, where an old commercial landmark became a hub of curiosity and learning.
Hands-on science and the aquarium
The heart of McWane is its hands-on approach. Across its floors, visitors can experiment with physics, engineering, and the natural world through interactive stations built to be touched, cranked, and tested rather than simply viewed. Exhibits change and rotate, keeping the experience fresh for repeat visitors and families.
One floor is given over to an aquarium, an unexpected surprise in an inland city, with tanks holding sharks, rays, and colorful reef fish, plus a touch tank where visitors can feel the animals of the shallows. It is a reminder that Alabama, though known for its mountains and coalfields, also reaches down to the Gulf of Mexico.
Alabama's dinosaurs and deep past
Alabama has an extraordinary fossil record, because much of the state was once covered by warm, shallow seas during the age of dinosaurs. McWane's collections and exhibits draw on that heritage, displaying dinosaurs and the marine reptiles, fish, and shells that lived in and around those ancient waters, along with the state's later Ice Age creatures.
The center also serves as a working repository, caring for fossils collected across Alabama and supporting the study of the state's prehistoric life. For visitors, this means the dinosaurs on display are not generic props but a window into what the ground beneath Alabama actually holds.
The dome theater and downtown Birmingham
A domed big-screen theater rounds out a visit, wrapping audiences in nature, space, and science films that fill the field of view. It is a popular finale to a day among the exhibits and a draw in its own right for evening and weekend showings.
The center's downtown location puts it within easy reach of the rest of Birmingham. The Birmingham Civil Rights District, with the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, is a short walk away, along with the city's theater district, restaurants, and other museums, making McWane an easy anchor for a day in the city.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Birmingham
Birmingham Civil Rights District
About 1 mile north
A national monument centered on the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, Kelly Ingram Park, and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, telling the story of the city's role in the movement.
Vulcan Park
About 3 miles south
A hilltop park topped by the world's largest cast-iron statue, the Roman god Vulcan, with a sweeping overlook of the city.
Sloss Furnaces
About 1 mile east
The towering ironmaking blast furnaces that built industrial Birmingham, now a preserved national historic landmark open to visitors.