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Mines Museum of Earth Science
Colorado School of Mines' free earth science museum: Colorado minerals, an Apollo 17 moon rock and more than 3,000 items on display, open daily in the General Research Lab building on Maple Street.
The Colorado School of Mines museum began in 1874 with geologist Arthur Lakes’s collection and holds the historic Colorado State Mineral Collection assembled by the Bureau of Mines in the 1890s. It describes its Colorado mineral holdings as the most comprehensive public collection in the world, and it is home to one of Colorado’s two Apollo 17 goodwill moon rocks. More than 3,000 of its 40,000-plus items are on display, with exhibits that rotate.
It is free and open daily from 10 am to 4 pm in the General Research Lab building at 1310 Maple Street, closed on December 24, 25, 26 and 31, January 1, July 4 and Thanksgiving. Visitors can earn a free rock or mineral by doing the family scavenger hunt.
At a glance museum · minerals · free · kids
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Checked by James, October 6, 2026 against museum.mines.edu. Hours and phone numbers change fastest, so the business’s own page is the record. Report a correction · Know something opening or closing? Tell us
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Mineral ID Day
1 pm – 4 pm · Mines Museum of Earth Science
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