Grant to support ‘big improvements’ at Longview World of Wonders children’s museum

Published 10:55 pm Monday, July 28, 2025

A $75,000 grant from Texas Mutual Insurance Co. will help Longview World of Wonders move forward with plans to transform the museum.

Executive Director Sara McKinley said the children’s museum on East Tyler Street will be starting on what she called a “pre-phase” to a larger three-phase master plan.

The pre-phase will provide more party space and renovate the museum’s unused second floor for use as office space.

“This partnership is a significant step forward as we work to expand our learning spaces and grow our capacity to create even more hands-on learning opportunities,” McKinley said in a statement. “The $75,000 grant will support our office and classroom renovations, paving the way for big improvements on the horizon for LongviewWOW.”

McKinley said the museum’s second floor has about 2,500 square feet of unused space. Renovations will cost about $300,000. The museum has already set aside part of the funding, with the grant allowing it to move forward with those renovations.

“This grant will close that gap on making all that happen,” McKinley said.

The museum’s first floor consists of a variety of hands-on, educational play and activity areas, a party room and an area that is closed to the public that includes storage and office/work space.

The downstairs storage and office space is 2,000 square feet. It will be tackled after the second floor, McKinley said.

“Weekends, we stay booked pretty far in advance for birthday parties,” she said.

Once renovations are completed in that first-floor area, it will include more space for birthday parties and programming space for activities such as the popular culinary arts and dissection programs.

The second floor is accessible by a staircase.

“We’re going to have access control put in so it keeps it safe for the kids,” McKinley said.

The first floor space will provide an office and bathroom for any staff member with a disability, she added.

“We’re hoping to have at least the upstairs finished by early spring 2026,” McKinley said. Plans must still be completed for the first floor space.

LongviewWOW also is working on plans for what comes next. The nonprofit organization previously developed a master plan with input from its board of directors, staff and community focus groups about what they want the museum to look like in the future

“We took all of that information and really used that to build what we want the future of WOW to look like,” McKinley said.

The museum isn’t ready to announce specific plans, but it will include renovating existing exhibits and building new exhibits.

It will provide more intentional spaces “that will kind of elevate us to” to provide a “higher level of STEM education” within the exhibits and provide educational content for older elementary and middle school children.

“We’re really excited. The community has just continued to love what we do and support us,” McKinley said. “We’re excited to move into a new phase.”

For information, go to longviewwow.org .