The Children's Building
Timeline
Creating Kids Timeline
1980s
Sandra Malmquist opened a daycare in a Quinnipiac dorm room.
The Quinnipiac College site was a lab for the psychology department’s Day Care and Child Development concentration, where Sandra taught.​​
The daycare was selected as one of eight national sites for the Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP), a longitudinal study on the impact of high-quality center-based child care on low-birth-weight, premature babies.​
1982: Quinnipiac moved the daycare to a leased space in Mishkan, Israel, in Hamden.
1990s
Quinnipiac sold the child care center to a for-profit chain. Opposing the deal, Sandra Malmquist, with the support of then-daycare parent Ted Baldwin, convinced Quinnipiac to buy out her contract.
Sandra formed a non-profit with parents and staff, opening Creating Kids, a 28-child center on Audubon Street.
Connecticut Children's Museum Timeline
1970s
​1973: June Levy of Hamden became the original director of the Connecticut Children’s Museum, starting it on a bus.
1976: Former Mayor Frank Logue and his assistant, Rosa DeLauro, helped move the museum into a new building on State Street.
1980s
1980: The Connecticut Children’s Museum's building on State Street was taken to widen the street.
1989: The city gave June Levy the current museum building on Orange Street.
1990s
1995: June Levy contracted with the board to open a magnet school, the Museum School, leading to the museum being open only to special groups.
1999: June Levy agreed to give her building to Creating Kids upon retirement if they reopened the museum.
The Children's Building
Timeline
1990s
1999: Creating Kids wanted to expand, and Sandra Malmquist approached June Levy about obtaining a building from the city.
1999: June Levy retired, and the Connecticut Children’s Museum founding director at 22 Wall Street in New Haven turned the building and its child care center over to Sandra Malmquist.
1999: The Creating Kids board became the non-profit Connecticut Children’s Museum board. Creating Kids shifted to the new location.
2000s
2001: The Connecticut Children’s Museum reopened to the public under Sandra Malmquist’s direction.