The Works: Ohio Center for History, Art & Technology is an interactive museum for families of all ages! Experience central Ohio's best destination for hands-on discovery with local history, art, science, and glassblowing. Check out the first floor science labs, watch a hot glassblowing demonstration, have an immersive experience in the SciDome planetarium, and learn about local history. The Works is more than a museum, offering new hands-on opportunities to inspire creativity and learning every day.
During the last 20 years, thousands of families, school groups, teachers, and adults have experienced the opportunity to dream big and have fun with hands-on history, art, science and glass at The Works. We invite you to join us. Plan your own discovery today.
The vision for The Works began in the early 1990s when Howard LeFevre assembled a group of local citizens interested in preserving Licking County’s rich industrial heritage. Local educators, artists, engineers, and community leaders became partners in the creation of an institution where history was the foundation for educational programs linking the past, present, and future. The Scheidler Machine Works, built in 1882, became the footprint of our main museum, and housed the first of what would become our signature hands-on exhibits. After several additions and periods of growth, today The Works Complex fills an entire city block just south of the historic courthouse square in downtown Newark.
The Works is a Smithsonian Affiliate Institution, a member of the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC), the North American Reciprocal Museum Association (NARM), and the Time Travelers network. Our Smithsonian Affiliation gives us access to exhibits and other resources from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Through our other affiliations, we can offer our own members free and discounted admission to more than 800 other science and technology museums, children’s museums, and historical institutions around the world. The Works is a non-profit organization under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)3: EIN 31-1395941.