Discovery World is a museum located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at 500 N. Harbor Drive. When the museum moved to Milwaukee's lakefront in 2006, it changed its name to Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin. It formerly was located at 815 N. James Lovell Street.
The museum focuses on innovation and technology, as well as Great Lakes education and conservation. Its building is filled with interactive exhibits, theaters, the Reiman Family Aquarium and Wisconsin's official flagship, the Denis Sullivan, a fully functional sailing vessel modeled after a 19th-century Great Lakes schooner. The entire Great Lakes watershed, built to scale, addresses freshwater issues, stewardship, and our relationship with freshwater resources.
The museum is operated by Discovery World, Ltd. which was formed after a merger with Pier Wisconsin, Ltd.
Discovery World was initially known as the Science, Economics and Technology Center, and plans for it appeared in the Milwaukee Journal in 1981. Articles mentioning Discovery World date back to 1986 in the Milwaukee Sentinel and suggest that the museum's early location was the Milwaukee Public library[1]. Paul Krajniak was director of exhibit development at the time [2]. This location was inside the Wisconsin Ave. entrance of the library but had its doors before the inner doors to the library area, allowing visitors to go to the museum without entering the library area or passing through the book scanners on the way out. The museum featured hands-on exhibits, computerized simulations, and science shows. Admission was $1.50 for adults and $1 for children [3].