The banner said, "History is not for wimps."

Nothing has changed since officials at the Washington State History Museum took the signage down. The histories contained within the 106,000-square-foot edifice challenge and engage the interests and intellects of the young and old who enter.

"The visitor experience is very important to us, and we know that visitors will learn more about Washington's history if the exhibits are presented in an engaging way," wrote Kimberly Ketcham, the museum's marketing and communications director, in an email.

To be engaged with and by history is to meet it head on, to see and hear and feel it as though who lived through it did.

The museum will host its 20th annual Model Train Festival in 2015. Photo credit: J.M. Simpson

This state's history is big and brawling and bright and beautiful - all at once.

Does this sound wimpy to you?

"Look at the two oxen pulling the wagon," one little girl exclaimed as she pulled her father to the exhibit.

"Let's climb up into the wagon to see what it's like to drive it," she added.

Talk about taking history into your own hands and making it mean something!

Located in the heart of downtown Tacoma, the museum houses 77,000 artifacts, 600,000 photographs, 65,000 pieces of ephemera, 17,000 books and 3,300 maps - all of which provide the curious with a dazzling array of facts and people and inventions and events.

The 124-year-old museum features a Great Hall of Washington History, a History Lab that allows for interactions between visitors and exhibits, and a captivating model train display.  

The museum also maintains a permanent exhibit about the history of the Pacific Northwest, and continually hosts temporary exhibits on some portion of the state's history.

What's more, there are two to four other featured exhibits on display at any given time, and a well-trained and polite staff on hand to pepper with questions.

The message about grasping history by the horns has gotten out.

In 2013 through 2014, more than 16,000 school children made field trips to this gem of history, and more than 92,000 people took in the museum's exhibits, programs and traveling exhibits.

"I really liked coming here with my friends," one pre-teen told me as I stood in line in the museum's gift store to pay for a T-shirt.

"This place is so cool; it really keeps my interest; I liked the exhibits on the loggers."  

And the purchase I made?  It's a large blue T-shirt with the words "History is not for wimps" neatly printed on the front.

The museum hosts quarterly special events, and there are a number of annual events to include the Model Train Festival in December, the Tacoma History Hike in June, and the IN THE SPIRIT exhibit and festival in June thru August.

For directions, rates, hours, a schedule of exhibits and visitor needs, visit www.WashingtonHistory.org for information or call 1-888-BE-THERE.