It was founded by George Walter Hinckley (1853–1950), as a part of the Good Will Home, a pioneering residential and educational institution for underprivileged children.

The building originally served as an industrial and training space, but was repurposed to house the museum by the early 1920s.

The building, with its distinctive terracotta egg and dart ornamentation, and arched windows, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The backgrounds for the dioramas were painted in the 1920s by noted American Impressionist painter Charles Daniel Hubbard [4] (1876–1951).

The arboretum was, in part, designed by the renowned Olmsted Brothers landscape architecture practice.