| Edification value |  |
|---|---|
| Entertainment value |  |
| Should you go? | |
| Time spent | 52 minutes |
| Best thing I saw or learned | Any good children’s museum needs a some quiet spaces to balance the rambunctious ones. Bronx Children’s Museum, has named one of these quiet spaces Sonia’s Corner. As with so many museum halls and galleries, it’s named after someone, though in this case not a plutocrat or gajillionaire donor. And, actually, not one person but two. Two of the most prominent advocates for the BxCM happen to be named Sonia. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is one. Sonia Manzano, actor and author, is the other. “Sonia Who?” you’re probably thinking. You know her, though. For the past half-century and more, she’s played Maria from Sesame Street.
It’s just a room, essentially (a nice room!). I didn’t even take a photo of it. But think about these two Sonias. One shaping the laws of the country and the other an unfamiliar name but someone who everybody who grew up with a TV in the last 50+ years knows and loves. Any corner that brings those two Sonias together is a good corner. |
A Power House Museum
The Bronx Children’s Museum (BxCM for short) occupies the second floor of a castle-looking, century-old brick building in Mill Pond Park, a, skinny stretch of land sandwiched between the overpass of the Major Deegan Expressway and the Harlem River.
The building has a fascinating history, so I’m going to digress for a minute. Mill Pond Park, on the bank of the river, exists on the site of the former Bronx Terminal Market, which opened in the 1920s as one of the city’s main wholesale food markets. The Power House, built in 1923, generated electricity to provide refrigeration for the market. So, the fact that it now houses a museum makes it a sort of sibling to the Tate Modern in London.
Like so many things in the Bronx, Bronx Terminal Market went into decline, rendered obsolete by the larger and more modern Hunts Point Market. This entire area fell into disuse and decay. Its rebirth happened because of nearby Yankee Stadium.
When the City firmed up the plan to build the new Yankee Stadium (it opened in 2009), it set aside $64 million from the project to build Mill Pond Park on the former market’s riverfront land. Almost $14 million of that funding went to restore the Power House, which today houses a tennis center, restrooms, and office space. And it also provides the home for the Bronx Children’s Museum.
A Nomadic Museum Puts Down Roots
The Bronx Children’s Museum was founded in 2005. For the first five years it lived a nomadic existence, putting on events and doing community outreach. A conceptual museum, rather than a physical one. It graduated from there to being a mobile museum-in-a-bus, and then in late 2022, after over a decade of planning and development, it opened in its permanent home in the Power House.
BxCM occupies over 10,000 square feet on the second floor. Its design follows the modern aesthetic of high ceilings and exposed ductwork, with large windows looking out at the river, and abundant amounts of beautiful blond, knotty, engineered wood that forms interior walls and, in places, floors and ceilings as well. The spaces are curvy and flow organically, defining areas without dividing the space. Doors and walls close off a few rooms (like Sonia’s Corner and classrooms), but mostly visitors can see the whole space from any point in it.
Every corner of BxCM is designed to engage and delight. Even the stairwell, which is bright and lively, and the restrooms, which pay homage to the Bronx River… I imagine using the bathroom there feels a bit like peeing outside).
Arguably, I didn’t see the museum at its best, visiting after hours on a Friday afternoon. John Boudreau, BxCM’s Director of Strategic Partnerships & Branding was kind enough to give me a private tour. For my past children’s museum visits (Manhattan, Staten Island, Brooklyn), I’ve borrowed friends’ kids, but nobody was available for this visit. BxCM has strict and totally understandable rules: neither unaccompanied adults nor unaccompanied children are allowed. 
That said, I didn’t have a hard time imagining the place buzzing with young ones. If I’m honest, having it to myself, not filled with noisy, sticky little monsters, was fine by me. I am deeply grateful for the tour, and I felt lucky for the time talking with John about the purpose and role of children’s museums generally, as well as the role that this specific one plays for its community.
John also told me that at the end of each museum session it holds a parade. All the visitors march through the space to say good-bye to it. I am a little sorry I didn’t get to see one of those. And I sort of wish the Metropolitan Museum of Art would adopt the custom.
The Space
BxCM uses its curvy spaces well. One section focuses on sciency stuff. It includes a few small critters in aquariums, and a build-your-own beaver lodge, since beavers once lived on the Bronx River (and occasionally still do). The biggest and fanciest exhibit presents a river in miniature, with actual water. Cloud shaped fixtures rain water down to a long, winding table where kids can learn about canal locks, build bridges, and float boats downstream to the ocean. I wanted to play with it very much.
Another space replicates elements of a Bronx neighborhood, with a casita, shop facades, a vegetable garden, and a “book bodega.” Playing store is a common feature to children’s museums. It’s odd to me, though there’s nothing wrong with preparing for a job in retail.
Other spaces encourage kids to stretch their creativity. An enchanted garden has costumes for pretend and storytelling. An artist’s studio recreates the actual studio of children’s book illustrator C.G. Esperanza. (Esperanza also did the art for the stores in the neighborhood.).
And of course,, there are also those quiet spaces, like Sonia’s Room, and a dedicated space reserved for toddlers and very young children, who may not be ready to navigate waterways or operate a retail establishment.
Books Abound
Throughout the whole museum, books abound. Sonia’s Room, the young kids’ space, other nooks and corners all are stocked with them. I appreciated how much this museum stresses the value of sitting down and reading — or being read to. John Boudreau observed to me that the Bronx had no dedicated children’s bookstore until the Book Bodega within the museum opened. He also said that BxCM has given away over 5,000 books since opening.
Like all children’s museums, BxCM has to speak to kids directly, but also to parents and caregivers. Each section of the museum includes ideas for “Play” “Learn” and “Go” geared for adults. They suggest things kids can do in the space, things they can learn there, and then other places in the Bronx or around the City to see the ideas in action. And, it almost goes without saying, all the museum’s signage is bilingual English and Spanish.
Should You Visit the Bronx Children’s Museum?
For a Manhattanite, the Bronx Children’s Museum is not the easiest place to get to via mass transit. If you have a kid, or you are a kid yourself, is the Bronx Children’s Museum a place worth visiting?
I think it’s well worth a visit. The design, the way it executes its mission, its love for its young patrons and empathy for their parents and guardians all impress. Like the Bronx Museum of the Arts, it welcomes people who may not think museums are for them. John told me that some people bring their kids weekly, or even more often. Though I am not in BxCM’s target demographic, I’m still glad that it exists to make its young visitors more aware of the nature and cultures of the Bronx, of New York City, and of the world.
Finally, just south of the Bronx Children’s Museum is the future home of the Hip Hop Museum. That institution should open sometime in 2026. I’ve been excited about it for years! I’m not sure it’ll make a strong double-bill with BxCM, but I bet the two neighbor museums will devise awesomely creative joint programs.
For Reference:
| Address | 725 Exterior Street, 2nd Floor, Bronx, New York |
|---|---|
| Website | https://www.bxcm.org/ |
| Cost | General Admission: $14 for adults, $8 for kids |
| Other Relevant Links |
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Of course the garden is educational and beautiful. 