OUR HISTORY
A Legacy Built
Through Play
Cayton Children’s Museum began in 1991 as My Jewish Discovery Place, a small, hands-on learning environment housed in just 600 square feet of the Westside Jewish Community Center. From the beginning, families gathered not simply to play, but to explore how curiosity, values, and shared responsibility could take shape through experience.
Within a few years, the museum evolved into the Zimmer Children’s Museum, grounded in Jewish and shared values expressed through its child-centered “Big Ideas.” These values were drawn from enduring traditions, including tikkun olam (תיקון עולם, repairing the world), gemilut chasadim (גמילות חסדים, acts of lovingkindness), kavod (כבוד, respect for self and others), bikur cholim (ביקור חולים, caring for community well-being), shomrei adamah (שומרי אדמה, guardians of the earth), hachnasat orchim (הכנסת אורחים, welcoming others), kavod z’keinim (כבוד זקנים, honoring elders), and tzedakah (צדקה, righteous giving).
Under the leadership of founding CEO Esther Netter and the founding Board, these principles shaped early exhibits and programs that invited children to see themselves as capable, compassionate participants in their communities. While rooted in Jewish tradition, the values were lived through universal actions—sharing, helping, listening, caring, and belonging—making them accessible to families of many backgrounds from the museum’s earliest days.
As interest in the museum’s approach to learning through play grew, so did its reach. The launch of youTHink, a youth development initiative serving middle and high school students, extended creative, civic, and social justice–focused programming into schools and community settings, particularly for under-served youth. Together, the early childhood museum and youth programs reflected a growing belief that learning through play could foster agency, empathy, and responsibility at every age.
In 2000, the MJDP relocated to the Jewish Federation building on Museum Row in the Miracle Mile district, expanding to 10,000 square feet with the support of the Max and Pauline Zimmer Family Foundation. This name the Zimmer Children's Museum.
In 2005, the Zimmer Children’s Museum became an independent nonprofit organization, formalizing its commitment to access, inclusion, and community engagement.
As the community that the museum served became broader and more diverse, the organization prepared for its next chapter. It undertook a thoughtful reframing—broadening its values from their Judaic origins into a universal, humanistic framework rooted in shared responsibility and care for one another, while remaining grounded in its founding principles.
Responding to ever increasing visitation and the need for a larger, more accessible home, the museum launched a capital campaign in 2015. The Zimmer Children’s Museum closed, and in the summer of 2019, the all-new Cayton Children’s Museum opened—reimagined for a new generation and named in honor of lead donors Andrea and Barry Cayton, whose generosity along with a community of founding donors and champions, made this transformation possible. Andrea's father, Jona Goldrich, of blessed memory, a Holocaust survivor, believed that " we are all responsible, one for the other." Jona's conviction that each person has a role to play in shaping a more just and caring world helped reinforce the museum's enduring sense of purpose.
After more than three decades of visionary leadership guiding the museum from its earliest beginnings through its evolution into Cayton Children’s Museum, founding CEO Esther Netter retired from day-to-day leadership in 2023. Her legacy endures in the museum’s belief in play as a powerful force for learning, connection, and community good.
Today, Cayton Children’s Museum builds on more than thirty years of learning through play—honoring its roots while looking ahead. Guided by a renewed Vision for the Future of Play and under the leadership of CEO Thomas Sullivan, the Cayton is poised to expand its impact, deepen its relevance, and continue evolving to meet the needs of children, families, and community in a changing world.
To learn more about this vision, please click here.
