Among the museums in St. Joseph that tout its architectural and industrial history, a small building settled on the banks of the Missouri River has helped generations get in touch with nature.

Remington Nature Center has become an important part of the community and a destination to take visiting family and friends, according to several local residents who attended the center’s first-anniversary celebration on Sunday.

“Every time they come in, they see something different. Whether it be something they didn’t notice the first time or something that we’ve added,” said Andrea George, the Nature Center’s exhibit and event coordinator.

The center has drawn more than 44,000 visitors in the past year. The hands-on exhibits, educational programs and sensory gardens aim at teaching visitors about the plants and animals in St. Joseph and instilling a desire to protect the environment.

“Compared to what the other museums (in St. Joseph) are, this is a huge step up,” said Jim Allday, a construction worker who was touring the 7,000-square-foot building on Sunday for the first time with his family.

His son Brendon, 12, and godbrother, Dakota Hartig, 10, pushed buttons on a footprint display that showed animal tracks appear and disappear in sand. Dakota was attracted to a honey beehive exhibit pressed between two double-strength pieces of glass. “I’ve been stung twice,” he said, scornfully.

In its second year, the center will add more adult education classes on natural history and improve interaction between staff and visiting school groups, Ms. George said. She wants to make children’s visits to the Nature Center more engaging through “scavenger hunts, goodies and tattoos.”

A self-guided tour takes about an hour. Visitors weave through more than a thousand Native American artifacts, stuffed bison, bears, wolves and foxes, and peer into a 7,000-gallon aquarium stocked with native Missouri River fish.

Exhibits show hunters and gatherers evolve into civilized farmers. Other exhibits show early St. Joseph: a trader’s cabin, a trapper’s tent, a replica of an 1800s Main Street. A barbed wire display is planned for the spring to show how it changed the natural landscape.

Milling in the gift shop after a two-hour tour, 49-year-old Ron Leslie said it had been his first visit to a museum since grade school.

“I didn’t know what to expect, but I’m glad I came,” said Mr. Leslie, who visited with his wife and mother-in-law and was attracted by the discounted $1 admission on Sunday. “I’ll probably come back again.”

Ahmad Safi can be reached

at ahmadsafi@npgco.com.