How You Shut Down the Nation's Longest Running Public Aquarium
Before the National Aquarium in Washington, D.C., closes, it needs new homes for its animals.
In early October, staff and volunteers began the six-month process of closing down the oldest public aquarium in the United States. Located in the basement level of the Commerce Building, which houses the U.S. Department of Commerce, workers have had to contend with a government shutdown, flooding due to heavy rains, and a bulky moving truck.
The move also required construction of a temporary door large enough get crates and boxes in and out of the building, but secure enough to maintain a perimeter.
Although the U.S. government pulled the plug on funding in 1982, the National Aquarium Society, a nonprofit organization, kept the facility running. In 2003, the Washington-based aquarium signed a partnership agreement with the National Aquarium in Baltimore (though
