Science Central: the power plant that became a playground

1987-1995, and after

The incorporation: Science Central was incorporated as a nonprofit in 1987 by a group of teachers, parents, engineers and community leaders who wanted a science discovery center for the children of northeast Indiana, working at first as the Science Collective of Northeast Indiana, doing programs throughout the community while it looked for a home. The home it found was the city's own dead power plant.

The building: The plant at 1950 North Clinton Street was built in 1929, the enlargement of the municipal City Light and Power works that had first generated on the site in 1908; it produced the city's power until generation ended in 1975, and then it sat decaying for sixteen years. Science Central obtained it in 1991, Indiana and Michigan among the donors to the rescue, and spent $9 million on the renovation and exhibits, $9.2 million in one account, the variant standing in the record. On 5 November 1995 the doors opened to a crowd of about 2,000 people, into 70,000 square feet of boilers and turbine hall refitted as the region's only science center, its smokestacks painted in bright bands that made the old plant the most recognizable children's building in the city.

The institution: The center's own fact sheet states the standing plainly: over 200 exhibits, the most-visited museum in Fort Wayne, about 135,000 visitors a year in recent accounts, and outreach serving 31 counties across the tri-state. The record also carries its hard passage at full size: when executive director Martin Fisher arrived in 2007, he found the organization nearing financial collapse under the $9 million it had cost to open, and the recovery across his tenure is the second half of the house's history. The newest chapter in this record is dated March 2026, when the region's only public planetarium opened at the center at a cost of $3.2 million. A children's museum built inside a power plant, nearly lost to its own opening debt, and recovered into the city's most-visited museum: Science Central is the civic line of this section carried to its largest scale.

Sources:

1. Science Central, Fact Sheet (updated January 2025) (the 1987 incorporation; opened 5 November 1995 in the 1929 City Light and Power building; $9 million in renovations and exhibits; the only science center in the region; the most-visited Fort Wayne museum).
2. Allen County Genealogical Society, City Light page and 1990s timeline of Allen County (the plant's history; generation to 1975; the sale and lease of 1974; the 5 November 1995 opening crowd of about 2,000).
3. Input Fort Wayne, Martin Fisher farewell account, 2026 (the 2007 arrival and the near-collapse; the service to 31 counties).
4. Visit Fort Wayne, "Explore Science Central through a Historic Lens," 2026 (the building obtained in 1991; the $9.2 million renovation figure; the planetarium opening).