Southend Central Museum
Central Museum, Southend
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| Location | Southend-on-Sea, Essex |
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| Type | Local history |
| Website | http://www.southendmuseums.co.uk/ |
The Central Museum is a museum in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. The museum houses collections of local and natural history and contains a planetarium constructed by astronomer Harry Ford in 1984.
The museum was opened in April 1981 in a Grade II listed building that was previously Southend's first free public library. The library service had moved to a new purpose built site on Victoria Avenue, which opened on 20 March 1974.
The Museum was originally built in 1905 as a free library, with £8000 of funding from Andrew Carnegie. The architect was Henry Thomas Hare.
The Museum features a collection of original Ekco radios, manufactured by E.K. Cole & Co. Ltd. (or 'Ekco') formerly based in Southend. In the 1930s, this company was one of Britain's largest radio manufacturers.
The displays also include local and natural history and archaeology.
Collection of Ekco radios on show at the Central Museum
Butterflies from the reserve natural history collections of Southend Museums Service
Coordinates: 51°32′32″N 0°42′38″E / 51.5422°N 0.7106°E
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