Old Peabody Museum

The original Peabody Museum building opened its doors in 1876 to showcase the rapidly expanding natural history collections gathered by O.C. Marsh and funded by his uncle, philanthropist George Peabody. It housed early displays of minerals, fossils, and Marsh’s now-legendary dinosaur discoveries, becoming one of the country’s foremost centers for paleontological research. By the 1910s, however, the structure was outdated and too small for the museum’s growing collections. In 1917, the original building was demolished to make way for the Harkness Memorial Quadrangle (now the site of Saybrook College), and the Peabody’s collections were placed in storage until the museum’s new, purpose-built home on Whitney Avenue opened in 1925. This new facility features a soaring two-story hall designed specifically to display Marsh’s dinosaurs and set the stage for the Peabody’s modern era.