as a cultural and educational center for children and families, an online resource, and a partner to other museums and programs across the country. The museum was established in 1974 and operated in a former convent and nursing home in Washington, D.C., near Union Station until 2004, when museum officials prepared to move their operations into space added to a building at the city's L'Enfant Plaza. But when the developer's plans for the plaza changed, museum officials began to search for a new location. That's when the Peterson Companies, the developer of National Harbor, offered the museum property within its development. "The Peterson Companies [were] very interested in having [us] consider that location to build a museum, so much so that they agreed to give us the necessary property to move the museum there," says Willard Whitson, the NCM's vice president for exhibits and programs. "That obviously became a powerful incentive for us to relocate there."
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