Columbia Play Project

In mid-March 2020, the world was in a pandemic. The outside world stilled as those who kept their jobs moved them inside the home, and kids found a new normal learning at their kitchen tables. Industries that relied on patronage and admission shut their doors and felt the pain of knowing they might not reopen them.

One of those businesses was the beloved Portland Children’s Museum.

Facing mounting problems and the lack of outside ticket sales or donations, the consequences of the coronavirus outbreak proved to be the final nail in the coffin for the museum. Founded in 1946, Portland Children’s Museum was the sixth oldest children’s museum in the world, and the oldest west of the Mississippi. In June of 2021, the museum entertained and educated young guests for the last time.

A GoFundMe was created to try salvaging the organization, but the damage had already been done. Portland Children’s Museum closed its doors, and no amount of last-minute community support was going to change that. Pacific Northwest families and children grieved for an institution that was a crucial character in the childhood of many young people’s lives.

Jeanne Bennett remembers the feeling well. “I was devastated. It was such an important part of raising my own children.”

But behind the scenes and long before Portland Children’s Museum announced their closure, Bennett had a vision that was slowly becoming a reality. With the desire to bring play spaces for children and families of Clark County to the forefront, that dream turned into Columbia Play Project.

Read the rest of this article in the full digital issue below.