<P> The one mission statement of the American Museum of Natural History is: "To discover, interpret, and disseminate--through scientific research and education--knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe ." </P> <P> Before construction of the present complex, the museum was housed in the Arsenal building in Central Park . Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., the father of the 26th U.S. President, was one of the founders along with John David Wolfe, William T. Blodgett, Robert L. Stuart, Andrew H. Green, Robert Colgate, Morris K. Jesup, Benjamin H. Field, D. Jackson Steward, Richard M. Blatchford, J.P. Morgan, Adrian Iselin, Moses H. Grinnell, Benjamin B. Sherman, A.G. Phelps Dodge, William A. Haines, Charles A. Dana, Joseph H. Choate, Henry G. Stebbins, Henry Parish, and Howard Potter . The founding of the museum realized the dream of naturalist Dr. Albert S. Bickmore . Bickmore, a one - time student of Harvard zoologist Louis Agassiz, lobbied tirelessly for years for the establishment of a natural history museum in New York . His proposal, backed by his powerful sponsors, won the support of the Governor of New York, John Thompson Hoffman, who signed a bill officially creating the American Museum of Natural History on April 6, 1869 . </P> <P> In 1874, the cornerstone was laid for the museum's first building, which is now hidden from view by the many buildings in the complex that today occupy most of Manhattan Square . The original Victorian Gothic building, which was opened in 1877, was designed by J. Wrey Mould, both already closely identified with the architecture of Central Park . </P> <P> The original building was soon eclipsed by the south range of the museum, designed by J. Cleaveland Cady, an exercise in rusticated brownstone neo-Romanesque, influenced by H.H. Richardson . It extends 700 feet (210 m) along West 77th Street, with corner towers 150 feet (46 m) tall . Its pink brownstone and granite, similar to that found at Grindstone Island in the St. Lawrence River, came from quarries at Picton Island, New York . </P>

When was the american museum of natural history built
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