Moab Museum

During the great uranium boom of the late 1950s, long-time and new Moab residents began to consider the value that a museum might bring to the town. Here was a region with a past rich in geological change, paleontological remnants and a human history that stretched from pre-historic cultures to Mormon pioneer families to out-of-town investors and miners with families. Yet, there was nowhere for those fascinating stories could be preserved, exhibited and interpreted. In 1957, a group of civic leaders began to plan for a city museum and in February 1958 the museum was incorporated as the Southeastern Utah Society of Arts and Science. Housed in a County building on Center Street, the private archeological collections from Dr. J.W. Doc Williams and Ross Musselman provided objects for initial exhibits, with more donations provided by citizens. During its first 14 months the museum hosted more than 6000 visitors. By the mid-1980s, the museum had outgrown its original building and, in 19...