Pretend you're a pioneer. Reach for the stars. Explore your ancestry. Your curiosity will take you far.
The Grout Museum of History and Science features permanent and continually changing exhibitions of area history, and the only public planetarium in Northeast Iowa, which holds weekly shows. [view the current schedule]
It's also home to the James, Robert and Dick McKinstry Funded Library, northeast Iowa's largest genealogical reference library. The library also contains an archival collection numbering 21,617 maps, photographs, oral histories, audio/video tapes, clippings and documents relating to the Cedar Valley.
Read about the history
Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Late Nights at the Imaginarium
Spring Film Series - Our Town (1940)
Dinosaurs: Land of Fire and Ice
Paleo Discoveries Summer Camp
Find Us
The Grout Museum of History & Science was founded by Henry Whittemore Grout, a prominent Waterloo resident, financier and state legislator who loved to travel and collect reminders of the places he visited, sharing these finds with children in the community. By the time of his death, Grout had collected over 2,000 objects. His will established an endowment and named trustees to care for his collection, which was displayed for many years at the local YMCA.
Learn more about Henry Grout
Thank you for letting us come! I loved the planetarium at the Grout and the Imaginarium. I'm not sure if I should become an astronomer or herpetologist now!
— Ian D.