Minnesota Discovery Center

It's your story too. Help us share it. Support the Museum's exhibits, programs, and educational initiatives. Donate today! 

Help us continue our mission to bus area school kids for educational field trips.

We teach them the stories from the past.  The stories of the people who came from all around the world with a dream of starting their lives over.

They found unbelievable opportunity to build a new life.  They also found unimaginable wealth beneath their feet – iron ore. The iron ore sparked a drama unlike anything the world had ever seen – the Industrial Revolution. It gave the people a new way to make a living.  It made millionaires of some, and billionaires of others. The United States used the ore to build itself into a superpower.

Why does it matter? Because this is what shaped the Iron Range into what it is today. This history determines our present and guides our future. It makes us who we are.  And these themes of hope, imagination, family and work are just as important now as they were then.  

The Minnesota Discovery Center is a place where you can learn about the past, understand the present and imagine the future.

Through our museum, archives, and research center, you can piece together your story... our story.

Through events, partnerships and exhibitions, we continually strive to enhance the lives of people in our community.

Our Mission:  To collect, preserve, interpret, educate and promote the Iron Range history and cultural heritage.  To serve, manage, promote, sustain and develop the MDC assets for the long-term benefit of regional Iron Range residents and visitors.

Our Vision:  Provide sustainable and responsible stewardship of community assets.  Serve and cultivate learning experiences for people of all ages on the story of the Iron Range.

Our Guiding Principles:

• Excellence — We encourage innovation, creative solutions and a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
• Service — We provide service that is warm and responsive, based on an understanding of the communities we serve.
• Professionalism — We perform our work in a professional manner that promotes careful and responsible management of all that is entrusted to our care.
• Respect — We hold our guests, patrons and team members in high regard.
• Integrity —  We act in a truthful, ethical manner... we do the right thing.
• Teamwork — We value working together to achieve common goals.