BEN: What pairs well with public libraries? Free museums!
I’ve been trying to visit the Money Museum at the Chicago Federal Reserve building for literal years. It’s only open Monday through Friday, ruling it out for weekend excursions, and was closed for a long time during the pandemic. Friday, July 5th finally presented an opportunity to check it out.
It’s a small but packed museum in the lobby of the Fed building, with exhibits on the history of the Fed and American currency, the security features of bills (with great interactive stations to examine both virtual bills and money from your wallet against a backlight and UV light), and the modern-day functions of the Fed, like setting interest rates and printing money. It’s well-done and we all found ways to engage. You also get three different opportunities to take a selfie with $1 million dollars – in singles, $20s, or $100s. This led to family discussions about the financial system and inflation, and us all getting that Barenaked Ladies song stuck in our heads all day!
(Fun fact – did you know that $2 bills are still being produced?!)
Whoa, a fountain!
NATHAN: There is a fountain on Jackson Street. If you are interested in water, please visit that fountain. That fountain is close to the Chicago Fed Money Museum.
Yeah, we’re hungry now.
SAM: After visiting the Money Museum, we (Ben and Sam) had the idea to fill the kids’ stomachs with things that they liked. That way, we can have whatever we liked too 🙂 However, the Latin Asian fusion restaurant we were going to try was closed for the day. We ended up at Chipotle close to Ida B. Wells Drive. With a full stomach, we continued our journey by foot to the Mindworks Museum.
Let’s be lab rats!
BEN: After lunch, we took a short walk west on Jackson to Mindworks, another free museum, this one operated by the University of Chicago’s business school. The ulterior motive here is research – roving grad students engage visitors and, if eligible, try to recruit them as subjects in ongoing behavioral research, which is conducted in little interview rooms hidden behind the exhibits – brilliant! The museum itself is a lot of fun, with interactive challenges in areas like goal-setting, risk analysis, and prediction of outcomes, each of which is followed by a “gotcha” reveal of behavioral research that elucidates the dynamics of the activity. Legitimately awesome!
To the library!
BEN: We hang out at Harold Washington Library pretty frequently, and for three primary reasons: the cavernous and beautifully remodeled children’s library, to ride the escalators up and down 9 floors, and to visit the Winter Garden on the 9th floor (the reward following all of those escalators).
Harold Washington opened in 1991 as a permanent replacement for the original 1897 downtown library, located in what is now known as the Chicago Cultural Center. Props to Mayor Washington on this – much of the collection lived in storage from 1977-1991 while waiting for a permanent home, and Washington got the ball rolling in 1986 with a large municipal bond, though he did not live to see the library open. The internet claims it is the largest public library building in the world (I’m a little skeptical).
Unique features of this library also include Chicago’s only public music practice rooms, a maker lab, and a variety of museum-like exhibits (including the original architectural miniature models of competing designs for its construction). It is guarded by five giant owls, who apparently always return their library books.
Boba, anyone?
SAM: After visiting the library, my sweet tooth kicked in and I was hungry for some Asian snacks. We walked down State Street and were originally going to hop on the #62 Bus and head to Chinatown for desserts but across the street, Gong Cha Bubble Tea was calling our names. We ordered a chocolate egg waffle (鸡蛋仔）and Ben and I shared an oolong boba tea.
What about transit?
DANIEL: Please, don’t try comparing Harold Washington Library’s public transit with Budlong Woods (See last post). The library is located right outside the Harold Washington Library ‘L’ station, which is in the Loop. It was originally known as State/Van Buren when it first opened in 1897. The original station closed on September 2, 1973, along with six other stations, due to low ridership, and was demolished in 1975. The new station was rebuilt and reopened on June 22, 1997 in order to serve the Harold Washington Library. Tip: If you are going out of the Loop on the Orange line, you can walk .3 miles to the Adams/Wabash Station, to avoid having to go around the Loop.
If you are coming in on Metra Commuter Rail, you have lots of options. LaSalle Street Station is a 0.3 mile walk from the library (Metra Rock Island Line). Union Station is a 0.7 mile walk (Metra Milwaukee District North, North Central Service, The Heritage Corridor, BNSF, SouthWest Service, and Milwaukee District West). If you don’t mind walking 1 mile, Ogilvie Transportation Center serves the Metra Union Pacific North, Union Pacific West, and Union Pacific Northwest lines. Walk 0.7 miles to Millenium Station, to get on the South Shore Line (NICTD), and 0.3 miles to Van Buren Station, to access Metra Electric.
BEN: We can’t end this post without a moment of gratitude to our friends across the pond in the UK, whose donations of books in the aftermath of the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 formed the foundational collection of what became the Chicago Public Library system. Brits, your food isn’t great, but thanks for the books!
Leave a Reply