National Roller Coaster Museum ‘no longer a dream,’ construction underway
The National Roller Coaster Museum and Archives (NRCMA) installed its entranceway from a former coaster track inversion as museum construction gets underway.
When future visitors approach the National Roller Coaster Museum in Plainview, Texas, they’ll step underneath a corkscrew inversion from Canobie Corkscrew, formerly at Canobie Lake Park in Salem, N.H., where it closed in 2022. However, the same coaster originally opened in 1975 as “Chicago Loop” at the Old Chicago park.
NRCMA installed the Canobie Corkscrew threshold in early fall 2025. The museum itself is under construction and has not set an opening date.
“This museum is no longer a dream. It is a reality being built right now,” said Jeff Novotny, president of the NRCMA board of directors. “This project represents one of the biggest logistical challenges we’ve faced, and thanks to the indispensable support of our industry partners and fans, the vision for this facility has rapidly transformed into a concrete, powerful reality.”
The National Roller Coaster Museum’s website currently states, “The museum will fully open once fundraising allows us to complete construction.” On Sept. 8, 2025, the museum’s X account shared the next phase of construction will be electrical, a $225,000 investment. “We’re about 90% of the way there to finishing fundraising on it,” the post said.
Patrons can donate online; fundraising has been in progress since 2016 to build the public museum facility for what has been a private collection since 2009.
The museum’s collection includes defunct ride vehicles from Six Flags Great Adventure’s Kingda Ka, Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s original version of The Big Bad Wolf, and Silver Dollar City’s classic iteration of Fire in the Hole, among others. The museum also hosts non-coaster ride vehicles, such as those from Snow White’s Scary Adventures and DisneyQuest at Walt Disney World.
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