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Utah to Open State History Museum at North Capitol Building in June 2026
Summary
The Department of Cultural and Community Engagement says a new state history museum with a collections facility in the North Capitol Building will open to the public in June 2026; the museum will house the Mormon Meteor and will open a museum store earlier in January.
Kat Potter, deputy director of the Utah Department of Cultural and Community Engagement (CCE), told listeners of the Utah Libraries Have You Covered program that the new State History Museum will open in June 2026 in the North Capitol Building on Capitol Hill.
Potter said CCE has built a state-of-the-art collections facility in the building's basement to better preserve historical and artistic materials that were previously stored in the older Rio Grande Depot. "We will have this beautiful state-of-the-art collections facility on the Basement Level of the building," Potter said. She added the main floor will contain public-facing galleries for exhibitions and education.
The museum will include notable artifacts. "The Mormon Meteor III will be in the museum," Potter said, referring to the land-speed-record car previously displayed at the Capitol and later held in a private collection. Potter said the galleries will provide context about the artifacts and the people tied to those stories.
Potter also said the museum will include a store selling memorabilia and mementos tied to Utah history. The store, she said, is expected to open earlier than the galleries and could be available to visitors as early as mid-January following building completion.
CCE officials said the department's move to the new space follows earthquake-related structural damage to the Rio Grande Depot and organizational growth that requires more room for staff and collections. Potter noted she began with CCE in March 2020, shortly before the earthquake that affected the depot.
The museum opening is being timed to coincide with the statewide America250 anniversary programming in 2026, and Potter said the new facility will serve as a legacy project to welcome tens of thousands of students and visitors and to connect them with other cultural sites across Utah.
The next public steps include finalizing exhibit installations and opening dates; Potter encouraged educators and community groups to watch for announcements from CCE about school visits and programming tied to the museum opening.
