10 Notes on Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry

While visiting Chicago, we got to visit the Museum of Science and Industry on the Southside. And on our first visit, it was so good that a few years later, when we got to go back to Chicago, it was our first stop.

First, the museum is enormous. To be on the Southside and away from Grant Park and Millennium Park, I thought it was going to be a smaller, second-tier museum.

I actually think it is Chicago’s best museum. The size of it reminds me a little bit of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. It just kind of keeps going and going at multiple floors, and every exhibit connects to yet another exhibit.

Second, the museum is incredibly child-friendly. It’s interesting for adults, and it has plenty of exhibits and interactive things for adults, but so many of the exhibits have child friendly exhibits that are really perfect for kids of all ages.

Third, even though it’s far from Grant Park in the Hotel District, it is very well connected by transit, and it’s easy to get to. The 6 bus goes right to the front door. It’s fast and cheaper than an Uber or rental car.

Fourth, it backs up to Jackson Park, which has a lovely set of Japanese gardens. The entire area is very walkable.

And lastly, the exhibits of the Museum of Science and Industry are at a scale that other museums can’t really match. They have an entire German U-Boat that’s inside the museum.

They have a railroad to scale of old Chicago. They have a Tesla coil, they have a tornado machine, they have all kind of exhibits that are at a scale that other museums just can’t match and are fascinating to see indoors.

The museum is absolutely worth a visit, and I’m thankful we’ve got to go there a couple of times.