Located just north of the Sunset Highway on the northern edge of Hillsboro, the earth science museum is in the Portland metropolitan area.

The museum sits on 23 wooded acres (9.3 ha), with the main building containing 7,500 square feet (700 m2) of space.

Richard L. Rice married Helen Hart in 1932 and the couple began rock collecting in 1938 after finding agates along the Oregon Coast.

[7] Richard and Helen Rice both died in 1997 with the home passing to the non-profit museum as part of their estate.

[8] The facility opened an exhibit in 2001 dedicated to the lapidary arts, and by that time the museum had grown to more than 4,000 items.

[7] In 2005 the North America Research Group unearthed the fossilized remains of a thalattosuchian crocodile from the Jurassic period in Central Oregon.

[19] This satellite gift shop was to be a temporary endeavor, and was designed in part to help drive traffic to the museum.

[19] By 2010 the museum's collections had grown to more than 20,000 specimens, and still had about 25,000 visitors annually, with about 18,000 coming from school field trips.

[21] Leslie Moclock left the museum in 2018, and Julian Gray resigned to take over the curator position.

[9] Their collection, which is in excess of 450 items and includes a log of white oak weighing 1,200 pounds (540 kg), was combined with the Rice Museum's existing pieces.

[17] The Alma Rose includes crystals measuring up to 9.5 cm in length along with quartz and calcite highlights.

[17] The Rices once owned the complementary "Alma King" rhodochrosite from the same mine, but sold the piece to the Coors Brewing Company, who then donated it to the Denver Natural History Museum.

[17] Individual items on display include coprolite from Mongolia, a 500-pound (230 kg) piece of the lightweight volcanic rock pumice, obsidian and basalt.

[29] Other items include azurite, Oregon sunstone, amber, copper crystals, zeolites, morganite, and agate among others.

It once hosted an annual summer festival with events such as thunderegg cutting and demonstrations of gold panning.

[35] Completed in 1952, the home was built of Arizona flagstone on the exterior and wood native to Oregon, including curly maple and myrtlewood.

The original blue linoleum in the basement that features the museum's logo of a shovel and a pick were preserved thanks to generous volunteer work and donations.

[19] This gallery focuses on items from Oregon, Idaho, and Washington, and includes collections of agates, thundereggs, zeolites, and placer gold, among others.