Chicago Maritime Museum — Attraction in Chicago

While looking to do something different, we decided to see what the Maritime had to offer. We walked to the basement of the building to enter in a quiet museum with the lights off. We stood there for a minute or so and said "hello", yet no one answered. We could see light from the side so we started to walk to the right and there were cluttered open offices and a canoe in the middle of the floor, interesting. My teenager began looking at the artifacts on the walls and began touring. After halfway through the museum and 20 minutes later a man approaches and tells us the staff is in a conference but we need to pay to be inside. I hand him the fee and he leaves. He tells my teenager to complete a paper of questions (Scavenger hunt) and he'll receive a gift, then leaves. The three of us go back to the half way point to finish walking around. After about 12 minutes a man comes out and tells my Father the history of a model landing port. They make small talk for a moment and the man goes into his office, the first cluttered one. At this point it has been an hour, no tour, no more than a three minute conversation with the staff....we could have had a better experience reviewing the website. As we were leaving someone did turn the lights on for...

A wonderful and diverse collection of artifacts and replicas detailing the history of Chicago's waterways/ maritime accomplishments. It's only a 5-10 minute bus ride from the 35th/Sox Red Line. We were lucky enough to go on a quiet, rainy weekday and the curator came out and greeted us herself. She was extraordinarily passionate and fun. Once she heard where we were from, she invited us to look at some collections from our home state that weren't on display yet. (I can't grantee that every visitor will have this experience but it was an unexpected plus for our visit) Overall the exhibit curated an inclusive and non-biased, brief overview of the history of Chicago's waterways and Chicagoans that went on to achieve wonders in the global maritime community. My only note is the entrance is in the parking lot on the north side of the building. Otherwise you will have to walk through a gorgeous veranda, sculpture gardens, or get sidetracked by an awesome cafe, or a myriad of art galleries that share the same building with this awesome museum.

Oh also there's a library and model...

A fairly small but informative museum. I especially enjoyed reading about the first African American sailor to circumnavigate the globe around the Capes, Bill Pinkney - what an inspiration. I also enjoyed the section with the focus on minority/women/LGBTQ+ sailing endeavors, as well as the paintings by the African American artist whose name escapes me. Hopefully someday the museum will be able to expand. Even Detroit [Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle] and Toledo [National Museum of the Great Lakes] have significantly larger maritime museums. Come to think of it, even the small town of Alpena, Michigan has a significantly larger space [Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center]. But I get it! These things take time, and I believe this museum is in its infancy. Hope to hear about an expansion someday. There is a benefit to it being small… you can stop in and spend 1-2 hours [3 if you ready every item, I would guesstimate] rather than half a day. Also, shout out that they give Veterans/Active Duty free...