Chicago History Museum, Old Town, Chicago

I’ve never been to the Chicago History Museum but I’ve passed by it on Clark and always thought, “I should check that out.” Online I found out that on Mondays admission is free, so I made my first visit yesterday.

I thought the Chicago History Museum was well put together. It’s not gigantic, which is kind of nice. You can see everything there in just and hour or two. If you plan ahead you can download a free audio tour mp3s of the permanent exhibit. I downloaded them, but forgot to put them on my iPod.

The special exhibit right now is Catholic Chicago, which I wasn’t really interested in. The permanent exhibits are all about the history of Chicago and I enjoyed those a lot. I liked the artifacts from the Columbian Exposition and Riverview Park. There was a cool area that was called “City in Crisis” that told about different things like the Great Chicago Fire, the Chicago race riot, Haymarket affair, the Chicago Outlet, that kind of thing.

This old CTA train reminded me of when Tien and I visited the New York Transit Museum.

One exhibit of the Chicago History Museum displayed artifacts from major businesses that are based in Chicago. I kind of chuckled because I own the pitcher that is on the left in the display. You can order your own here.

Kind of morbid, but I thought I’d seen Lincoln’s deathbed on a visit to Washington DC. I saw the Peterson house where Lincoln died and there was a room with a bed. When I got home I looked it up online and the Chicago History Museum has the actual bed. The one in the Peterson house is a replica.

There was a Gas for Less gas station on Lincoln. Before it was torn down I photographed it. At first I thought this was the same sign, but it’s not. Still cool because this sort of gas station sign just does not exist any more.

In the museum gift shop I bought a book on Riverview park. I walked around outside a bit. The Chicago History Museum is right on the edge of Lincoln Park, so the grounds are gorgeous. I wanted to walk around more but it was about 1:30 and I was hungry for lunch. I took the bus down Clark to Frontera Grill but they’re closed on Mondays. boo. I went to Mambo Grill instead. Pretty good, but not Bayless.

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