Madison Children's Museum

Our History

Madison Children’s Museum is the oldest children’s museum in Wisconsin. Founded in 1980 by early childhood specialists and originally incorporated as “Wisconsin Children’s Center,” MCM opened its first brick and mortar museum site in 1985 on West Washington Ave and Bedford Street. In the early years, volunteers oversaw traveling exhibits and its temporary home at the Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters, followed by a move to 100 State Street in 1991.

Expansion began again in 2005 when MCM acquired a $5 million, five-story building through the generosity of W. Jerome Frautschi. Renovation joined innovation with a $10 million capital campaign highlighting recycled materials, local builders, and a rooftop garden. Through these efforts, MCM has become a national leader in museum practices.

Our current Hamilton Street facility opened its doors in August 2010, serving a bigger audience in a learning playground emphasizing art, science, history, culture, health, and civic engagement.

Madison Children’s Museum Facts

• Each year we host around 200,000 visitors, 300 school groups, and more than 800 education programs.
• MCM has more than 50 full- and part-time employees, and more than 500 volunteers and interns who give more than 16,400 hours annually.
• We have more than 6,000 member families.
• Our rooftop garden produces 1,400 eggs and 300 varieties of veggies and herbs each year.
• In 2014, MCM achieved LEED Gold Certification for an existing building. MCM is the first LEED-certified museum in Wisconsin. To learn more about our green initiatives, read our Green Guide.
• We use local materials, builders and craftspeople as often as possible.
• Our Hamilton Street location was built with an investment of $16.5 million. We operate on an annual budget of around $3 million.
• Our facility can host up to 3,200 visitors, and up to 700 for an event. It has five floors, including a four-season rooftop and office space, and has 79,000 square feet with 36,000 used for public space and 13,775 reserved for future expansion.
• Our record-high attendance in one day is 3,200 visitors.
• Built in 1929, our 100 N. Hamilton St. building was originally a Montgomery Ward department store.
• While the museum was founded in 1980, our current location opened in August, 2010. It was brought to life with the work of J.H. Findorff & Son Inc., Madison, WI, and The Kubala Washatko Architects Inc., Cedarburg, WI.

Jerry Frautschi & Pleasant Rowland: A Legacy of Investing in Children

Madison Children’s Museum has been shaped by a remarkable, decades-long relationship with philanthropists Jerry Frautschi and Pleasant Rowland, built on a shared conviction that children deserve extraordinary places to learn, play, and grow.

“The Museum Built by Dolls” (1988-2023) 

It started small. In 1988, when the museum occupied a tiny basement space on N. Bedford Street, board member Heidi Bollinger organized a sale of seconds and returns from Pleasant Company (later renamed American Girl), the fledgling corporation founded by Pleasant in 1986 with financial investment from Jerry. What began as a single fundraiser grew into a beloved Madison tradition. The American Girl Benefit Sale continued for 35 years, raising over $13 million for MCM and an additional $12 million for area children’s charities through the American Girl Fund for Children. 

A Forever Home (1990s-2000s) 

In the late 1990s, as plans for the Overture Center for the Arts took shape, Jerry insisted that children be centered in the project by including Madison Children’s Museum, then located at 100 State Street, as a resident organization. When it became clear that the Overture facility lacked adequate space for MCM’s needs, Jerry pledged $5 million to enable the museum to purchase a forever home within walking distance.   

In 2002, Pleasant established the Great Performance Fund endowment to support Overture resident organizations and made sure that MCM was included. Three years later, MCM used Jerry’s $5 million gift to purchase the historic building on the Capitol Square. 

Opening Day (2010) 

 In 2010, following an extensive renovation process and capital campaign—capped by Pleasant’s $1.3 million gift to create the Rooftop Ramble—Madison Children’s Museum threw open its new doors at 100 N. Hamilton Street to a chorus of cheering families. In what may have been Madison’s largest ribbon-cutting ever, hundreds of safety-scissors-wielding children lined up around the ribbon-wrapped building. 

Our Future in Play (2020-2021) 

When the 2020-21 Covid 19 pandemic forced the museum to close its doors for 15 months and lay off most of its staff, Jerry contributed $1 million to the museum’s Our Future in Play campaign. His gift helped to create the Wonderground, a vibrant 10,000-square-foot outdoor exhibit, and sustained core operations as the museum prepared to reopen in spring 2021. 

Building for the Next Century (2003-present) 

Jerry understood what many people don’t: maintaining a building is unglamorous, hard to fundraise for, and essential. After a 2023 tour of the nearly century-old building, Jerry and Pleasant each pledged $2 million to the museum’s Facilities Fund to support critical maintenance, upgrades, and future expansion.  

In 2025, Jerry made an extraordinary commitment: an additional gift of $6.5 million to the Facilities Fund—the largest individual gift in museum history. Together, Jerry and Pleasant have made an enormous impact on children and families in our community by ensuring that children will always be in the heart of Madison. 

On behalf of Madison Children’s Museum, we thank and honor Jerry Frautschi and Pleasant Rowland for their tremendous visionary support.