 Stegosaurus made its major public debut as a papier mache model commissioned by the U.S. National Museum of Natural History for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition . The model was based on Knight 's latest miniature with the double row of staggered plates , and was exhibited in the United States Government Building at the exposition in St. Louis before being relocated to Portland , Oregon for the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in 1905 . The model was moved to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History ( now the Arts and Industries Building ) in Washington , D.C. along with other prehistory displays , and to the current National Museum of Natural History building in 1911 . Following renovations to the museum in the 2010s , the model was moved once again for display at the Museum of the Earth in Ithaca , New York . 
