When Robert Kirkland held his first public meeting to explore the creation of a museum in Union City, more than 250 members of the community showed up to declare their desire to be part of his mission to create a center of culture and education in West Tennessee. Eventually, more than 350 volunteers contributed more than 20,000 hours to the planning and construction of Discovery Park.
The combined efforts of experts, novices and volunteers were fully realized on Nov. 1, 2013 as Robert and Jenny Kirkland cut the red ribbon. The public was impressed from the start. Not only had there never been anything like this in Obion County, there had never been anything quite like Discovery Park in the world.
Although Robert and Jenny Kirkland have both since passed away, their vision has been realized, and since opening, millions of guests have experienced this 100-million-dollar masterpiece now sitting in what was once a quiet cornfield.
Since Discovery Park of America opened its doors in 2013, millions of children and adults have benefited from the big idea of Robert Kirkland and the community of Union City, Tennessee to create a place where inspiration would happen every single day. That means inspiration to learn, inspiration to grow, inspiration to consider new ideas and inspiration to see beyond wherever an individual is in life, regardless of age or education.
