Northwest Airlines History Center — Attraction in Bloomington

This is a great small museum dedicated to a very long running airline brand and its corollary airlines. Truly a labor of love, it's really all about the history of commercial aviation. The two volunteers here today are extremely friendly and very knowledgable and both worked in the airline industry for many years. This museum has everything from dozens of aircraft models, small and large; displays that cover everything from the very first commercial airlines and airports; flight attendant uniforms going years back; airline timetables (several boxes of them from various airlines over the years), various dishware and souvenirs offered on flights; actual seats from the 1930s to the 2000s (we air travelers have it good nowadays!), and THE GONG from the classic "Northwest-Orient Air Lines" commercials from way back. There's also a gift shop with mugs, pins, books, wearables, etc. This is a great way to spend a cold winter afternoon. It can be a bit tricky to find this museum; it is located on the third floor of the Crowne Plaza Hotel, but you need to take some stairs to get there. Best to check at the front desk and they'll show you how to find it. Former airline employees and aviation geeks will LOVE this museum as well as anyone that loves...

The museum is on the 3rd floor of the Crown plaza hotel. It is offered free to the public. They say you don’t need to be a hotel guest. There is a elevator which goes to the 3rd floor but you can't get there without a hotel key card. We we're told by the hotel receptionist we'd have to take the stairs, which does offer access to the museum without a hotel room key card. She even said, “It's only one flight of stairs”. One flight is no problem for an able person but my wife is disabled and has great difficulty with stairs. After several appeals and actually talking to a museum volunteer who came back to the front desk with us and talked to the receptionist lady on our behalf, Crown Plaza was unyielding and would not make any other accommodations for us, (like riding us up on the elevator, which seemed like a reasonable request). We drove about 6 hrs from Chicago,IL but there was absolutely no way I was going to alienate my wife. I am going to complain about the poor accommodations for those with disabilities Crown Plaza...

It may be a little hard to find in the hotel, but be persistent! It's well worth a visit, even if you have no connection with NWA. Lots of memorabilia and artifacts from airlines that were folded into NWA such as airplane models, uniforms, seats, dinnerware, playing cards, even cigarette lighters. They have so much of it, they even have branded items for sale at a reasonable price for the true aviation buff. Vince gave me a personal tour which I truly enjoyed. Admission is free, and it's totally supported by volunteers who used to work for the airline, so please consider a...