Red Mountain Museum

The Red Mountain Museum was a museum dedicated to the geology of Red Mountain in addition to the paleontology, biology and engineering of the area. The facility was located at 2230 Arlington Crescent South. It opened in 1971 as a place to catalog and exhibit fossils discovered during the creation of the Red Mountain cut. Visitors could view collections and interpretive displays inside the museum and also walk along a portion of the side of the cut above Red Mountain Expressway. Signs were erected to point out the history and geologic features of the mountain. Additional programs and exhibits focused on geology, but also covered astronomy, physics, meteorology and other science topics.

In 1991 the museum merged with the Discovery Place, a children's museum which had opened just down the street. Together they formed Discovery 2000, which raised funds for a new science center, which opened in 1998 as the McWane Center in downtown Birmingham.

After McWane's opening, many of the exhibits from the Red Mountain Museum were relocated there.

In 2007 the City of Birmingham reached an agreement with the Dominican Sisters of St Cecilia Congregation to sell the museum property to St Rose Academy for $606,632. Plans call for the dilapidated building to be demolished and used for parking in accordance with the school's master plan. The city would retain the small neighborhood park adjacent to the museum, and the locked access to the Red Mountain cut walkway. Proceeds from the sale will be directed to the McWane Science Center.

Demolition of the building began on July 2, 2007.

References

• Coman, Victoria L. (July 30, 2003) "Redmont Park OKs razing old Red Mountain Museum site". Birmingham News.
• Coman, Victoria L. (May 15, 2007) "Vote on selling museum site to St. Cecilia nuns expected." Birmingham News.
• Folse, Molly (August 16, 2007) "Leveled: The sad demise of the Red Mountain Museum." Birmingham Weekly.