The Museum is named in honour of Joseph Tyrrell, a geologist who discovered the first dinosaur in the Red Deer River Valley in 1884. The Museum opened September 25, 1985 and was given Royal status by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990. In its first year of operation, the Museum attracted over 500,000 visitors. The average annual number of visitors is about 400,000. In 2010 the museum welcomed its 10-millionth visitor, a young boy from Edmonton.