The Museo de la Ciudad occupies a building on Calle 56, a short walk south of the Plaza Mayor, and traces Mérida's development from the pre-Hispanic Maya city of T'hó through the colonial period, the henequen boom, and into the 20th century. The collection is not large, but it is well-organised and fills in the gaps that the Palacio Cantón's anthropology collection leaves open: this museum is specifically about the city rather than about Maya civilisation in the abstract.
The building itself has a history: it served as a prison for much of the 19th century before being converted for cultural use. The permanent collection includes artefacts from T'hó (some with information about how the Spanish systematically destroyed the Maya ceremonial centre), colonial-era maps and documents, and photographs from the henequen era that capture the extraordinary wealth of early 20th-century Mérida. Entry is free; the museum is closed Mondays. It makes a useful companion to a morning spent on the Plaza Mayor, providing historical context for the buildings you have just been standing in front of.