The McHenry Museum is open . . . for YOU!
Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays:
12:00 p.m. — 4:00 p.m.
YOUR community museum brings Modesto and Stanislaus County history to life.
Admission is free!
Located in Downtown Modesto at 1402 I Street, the McHenry Museum invites you to join the thousands of annual visitors who come to engage with the rich and diverse history of Modesto and Stanislaus County. Open three days a week, guests enjoy immersive exhibits in an upbeat and friendly setting, showcasing two-hundred (200!) years of unique and storied local history. Bring friends and family to experience your community museum, and learn something new about local history — today!
The museum is owned and maintained by the City of Modesto, and enjoys support through the active involvement of the McHenry Museum & Historical Society (MM&HS).
The nonprofit MM&HS organization promotes active and robust community engagement with Modesto and Stanislaus County history, and helps to connect the public with the McHenry Museum. MM&HS provides trained docents to greet and guide museum visitors (including for free educational field trips for area schoolchildren), hosts community history talks, publishes fresh articles documenting local history, maintains this website, delivers Stanislaus County history directly to the public with its ‘mobile museum’, and more.
Your participation with MM&HS helps bring local history to life! Get involved now with this local ‘historic society’ by volunteering (our volunteers are the heart of our organization!), becoming or renewing as a donor member (starting at just $40 per year!), making a donation (it’s an investment in your community!), and shopping at our in-museum book store gift shop, Stanislaus Selections (where there’s always something new, local — and historic!).
Get involved. Today!
‘Stanislaus Selections’, the in-museum bookstore gift shop
Stanislaus Selections is the in-museum bookstore gift shop operated by the McHenry Museum & Historical Society. Open during the McHenry Museum’s regular operating hours, the shop features fascinating books full of Modesto and Stanislaus County history, art originals and prints from local artists, greeting cards, children’s toys, and local swag. Stanislaus Selections is the quintessential shopping spot for discerning tastes. There’s always something new, local — and historic! MM&HS members receive discounts on special items.
A taste of the permanent exhibits at the museum
Yokuts (first known people to inhabit the area), Historic Classroom, American Graffiti, Local Agriculture
A brief history of the McHenry Museum —
When prominent local resident Oramil McHenry died in 1906, his estate left $20,000 along with a stake in three city lots designated for the construction of a public library in Modesto. By 1912, the McHenry Library was built, serving local residents in this capacity until Stanislaus County built its Modesto Main branch, just a block away, in 1971. The building was reborn as the McHenry Museum in 1972.
Learn more about the history of the building, and the history of the MM&HS nonprofit organization.
