Griffin Museum of Science and Industry

Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, commonly known as Griffin MSI, is one of Chicago’s largest and most popular museums. It is located right off Jackson Park; the museum combines science, technology, history, and hands- on experiences throughout. Although the museum opened in 1933, its building dates back to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.

The building was originally constructed as the Palace of Fine Arts for the 1893 Exposition, the world’s fair that introduced Chicago to an international audience. The fair transformed the city’s Jackson Park and surrounding area to create the famous “White City” of completely temporary neoclassical buildings. The buildings were constructed with materials that were easily demolished through force, fire, or deterioration. The Palace of Fine Arts was built differently. Because it was designed to house valuable works of art from around the world, its interior was constructed with brick to act as a safeguard against fire and other hazards. That decision allowed the building to survive long after the rest of the fairground disappeared. Today, it is the only building from the 1893 fair still standing in its original location.

After the exposition, it did not immediately become a science museum. After the World’s Fair, the structure eventually fell into disrepair. The idea for a new museum began with Julius Rosenwald, who was the chairman of Sears, Roebuck and Company and a prominent Chicago philanthropist. In 1911, Rosenwald had visited a museum in Munich with his family. He was struck by the museum’s interactive approach to science instead of the typical museum experience of looking at objects behind glass. This made Rosenwald determined to bring this type of museum to Chicago.

In 1926, Rosenwald pledged three million dollars into creating an industrial museum in Chicago; he worked with other civic business leaders to develop it. The deteriorating Palace of Fine Arts was selected as the museum’s future home. The building was restored and redesigned, while retaining much of its original exterior architecture. The interior was updated to the Art Deco style, which was popular in the 1930s.

The museum opened on June 29th 1933, during Chicago’s second World’s Fair. The museum was founded around the idea that science should be something the visitors actively experienced. Its first and most famous interactive exhibit was the Coal Mine, which allowed visitors to descend into a simulated mine and experience mining technology firsthand. This approach made the museum different for its time and established its hands-on philosophy that continues today.

Throughout the twentieth century, the museum continued to add exhibits that encouraged visitors to interact with science and technology. The Santa Fe model railroad opened in 1943. The Colleen Moore Fairy Castle joined the collection in 1949, and in 1950 the museum introduced a walk-through model of a human heart. The museum became a place where visitors could encounter technological achievements instead of reading about them.

The star of the show arrived in 1954: a German U-505 submarine. The submarine had been captured by the United States Navy in 1944 during World War II. Chicago native Captain Daniel Gallery commanded Task Group 22.3, the American force that captured the submarine. The submarine eventually became a National Historic Landmark and remains one of the museum’s most significant objects.

The museum continued expanding beyond its early focus on industrial technology. Science Storms allows visitors to interact with phenomena such as tornadoes, avalanches, and tsunamis. The Henry Crown Space Center opened in 1986 and focuses on the history of space exploration and includes spacecraft such as the Apollo 8 command module. In 2025, the center was renovated to display a SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft.

The museum’s educational mission has remained central to its identity. Griffin MSI has continued Rosenwald’s original idea that visitors should be able to experiment, interact, and ask questions. The museum now offers educational programs, workshops, field trips, camps, and initiatives designed to connect young people with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. In 2024, the institution formally became the Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, after he generously donated 125 million dollars to the museum. Today, Griffin MSI is a place where several different periods of Chicago history overlap. Walking through the museum means moving between historic artifacts and modern scientific experiences.

Author Review:

One of my favorite exhibits at MSI is the live baby chicks. There are incubators spaced around their farm exhibition; here you can watch them hatch out of their eggs right in front of you. I have been coming to this museum for years. Whenever I would visit my family in Chicago, I would come here with my cousins, and we would easily spend the entire day exploring because there is so much to see. From DePaul’s Lincoln Park Campus, it takes about 45 minutes by public transportation, so it is a little further, but it is definitely worth the trip. One downside now is that some exhibits that were part of the general museum experience have additional costs. For example, the Coal Mine and the U-505 onboard experience require separate tickets that aren’t super affordable. That can be frustrating if you are already paying admission; however, there are free days for Illinois residents, so those add ons can be manageable on days you aren’t paying admission. Even with that, there is still an enormous amount to see and do, and the museum is one of Chicago’s most fun places to spend an entire day.

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