A soon-to-open exhibit at the Watkins Community Museum of History looks at how downtown became downtown.

The exhibit, called “It Happened on Mass. Street: 150 Years in Lawrence,” gives visitors a chance to see photographs and other artifacts from the city’s history.

It opens Thursday at an open house, which runs from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. At 6 p.m., Wakarusa River Valley Heritage museum director Martha Parker will give a talk about Civil War-era Douglas County. At 7 p.m., local author Tom Mach will speak about Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence.

The exhibit will be up through the end of the year and then the museum will evaluate whether to keep it open.

The museum is at 1047 Mass., and the exhibit will be housed on the third floor. Admission is free.