The Museum Project History
 
In 2004, the Junior League of Greater Covington (JLGC) initiated talks with Parish
President Kevin Davis to build a Children’s Museum in St. Tammany Parish.
St. Tammany is one of Louisiana’s 64 parishes (known as counties in all other states) and
is located 30 miles north of New Orleans. The meetings were very positive and the
JLGC received full support from parish officials to begin research and planning. The
League joined the Association of Children’s Museums, the leading national organization
for museum operations, and continued research on programming, exhibits, management
and funding.
 
In 2005, a traveling educational program called “Museum without Walls” was developed
to introduce the Children’s Museum concept to our community. It was implemented by
Junior League volunteers to bring creative learning into St. Tammany Parish schools.
This program played an important role in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
JLGC members brought the Museum without Walls to shelters across the Parish to assist
with the children and families who were being cared for after the Hurricanes. Since then,
the Museum without Walls has reached more than 1,000 elementary students in St.
Tammany Parish public and private schools.
 
In 2006, the JLGC once again launched into the children’s Museum project and resumed
talks with parish leaders. In his Annual Report to the Parish, Davis announced, “the
quality of our lives must also include the amenities that mark who we are as a
community. In partnership with the Junior League of Greater Covington, the St.
Tammany Arts Commission, and the Tammany Trace Foundation, we hope to break
ground on a new Children’s Museum, centrally located at the Tammany Trace Koop
Drive Trailhead, just north of Interstate 12.” The I-12 Corridor is a major thoroughfare
passing horizontally through the entire parish, and connects St. Tammany with many
other communities, including Hammond, Baton Rouge, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
 
Currently, the planning committee has completed a business plan and feasibility study. A
master site plan which was funded by a grant from the St. Tammany Tourism
Commission has been completed. The JLGC will initiate a major fundraising drive for
this project.
 
The Junior League of Greater Covington plans to “birth” the museum and run it until it is
stable and self sustaining. We will then turn it over to a governing board of directors
with operational staff for long term management. It is not our goal to own or operate the
museum over the long run, as the League’s Mission of improving our community
revolves around nurturing a project until it can stand on its own and then releasing it back
to the community. Part of this goal is to incorporate the museum into its own 501(c) 3
status in order for the JLGC to eventually exit the project.

View Front Entrance

View Plaza Entrance

View the Koop Drive Master Site Plan