The two storey solid wooden building housing the museum today was built in the year 1897 as a fort by the second White Rajah, Charles Brooke to impose peace and order in the region where warfare among the local tribes prevailed.
The Old Miri Airport was planned and built in the 1970s, where a demand for a more modern and longer runway was needed to accommodate Fokker 50s and the Boeing 737s for a booming commercial aviation as commercial flying became a more affordable way to travel.