rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

One of the benefits of being raised in Chicagoland was our regular trips {usually when we had guests} to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Undoubtedly my favorite exhibit was the U-505 submarine - members of my family were fairly sure I could have conducted a tour as well as the paid staff did.

Well, that was over fifty years ago. My wife {a chemist} and I have been able to make periodic trips there, including one last month. The museum is housed in a building originally built for the 1893 Columbia Exposition, which doubled as a celebration of Columbus's trip to the New World and as Chicago's "coming out party" announcing to the world that they had recovered from their Great Fire. In recent years the complete structure has been modernized, so I was very interested in comparing my pictures from this trip with those from a trip we made in 1983 {when it was very much like it had been when I was a kid}
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#1 Until the modernization, visitors parked in surface lots and then entered through the original majestic entrances

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#2 Now we park in an underground parking garage and enter through a newly constructed hall which is actually at sub-basement level - we had to ride up escallators to get to the basement

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#3 For years, the Pioneer Zephyr, the train which basically led to all modern diesel passenger trains, was parked outside next to the U-505

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#4 They completely refurbished the Pioneer Zephyr, making up for its years of enduring the elements, and now it is in a part of the parking garage, and is the first thing visitors see as they go from their cars to the entrance hall

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#5 They have always had World War I airplanes hanging from the ceiling; they took a chunk out of the balcony, and now they have a 727 integrated into it, with steel of 727 attached to steel of balconey

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#6 My Mother's favorite exhibit, a doll house commissioned by silent movie star Colleen Moore, is basically unchanged

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#7 Of course, they always have traveling exhibits. In 1983 it was computer equipment

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#8 In 2017, the traveling exhibit honored photographer/enviromentalist James Balog - "Human eyes can't record change, cameras can"

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#9 For many years they had an O-scale model train {photo taken from balcony - I don't have any of these from main floor}

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#10 Now they have an HO scale train {"Half O"} - with lots of commentary explaining what the visitor is looking at

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RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

Good set. Thanks for taking us there.

canondave1 Loc: Houston, TX

Great photos and subjects. Thanks for the tour.

Doddy Loc: Barnard Castle-England

Looks a fascinating place to visit..thanks for the tour.

Cwilson341 Loc: Central Florida

Very nice series. Your supplied details greatly enhance the series. Well done!

Tom G Loc: Atlanta, GA

One of the best museums in the world.

WayneT Loc: Paris, TN

The place looks good. I haven't been there in years myself, the last time when I took my boys there back in the early 90's. One of my favorite places, I'd love to go back and see what they've done.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

I enjoyed the comparisons and information very much!

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

Interesting--it's been about thirty-five years since I've been there. Thanks for posting these.

EdR Loc: Gig Harbor, WA

Thanks for the update. I grew up within walking distance of the museum. I watched them bring U505 across from the lake. Probably a misprint but the fighters hanging then were WWII, a Spitfire and a Stuka. You brought back great memories👌

Gerald Watson

I was there in 1960 Christmas time. I have not forgotten the experience. Where else can you go through a coal mine, and go aboard a captured
German submarine? I would recommend it to anyone. It is as good as the Smithsonian.

cdayton

I was an undergrad at the University of Chicago in 1954 when U505 was brought to the Museum - UC is just a few blocks west of the Museum. A fellow student in my dorm liberated the "Submarine Crossing" sign used when they brought the U boat across Lake Shore Drive. There is also a "working" coal mine you can explore.

Tikva Loc: Waukesha, WI

I haven't been there in years, but it is a place I really enjoyed. Thanks for the great photos. Many years ago (about 60) a friend and I were looking at the doll house and had our pictures taken with it for some kind of Chicago publication. Never did know what happened with those photos, but I remember it all of these years later. I can't recommend it enough.

jaduff Loc: Northern NJ

Lived there (Lake Forest) from 1960-70 and loved going down there as I was very into science. BTW James Balog is the son of an acquaintance from the Jersey Shore

Jack 13088 Loc: Central NY

Thanks for this. This was my favorite place as a kid. You have sent a geezer down memory lane. In the spirit of let no good go unpunished I will elaborate. I was born (1941) and raised in Indianapolis. Two or three times a year for as long as I can remember my parents would take a weekend trip to Chicago to visit the museums and shop. The Museum is Science an Industry was my favorite. We stayed at a hotel near the museum, Hayes? When I got old enough they would send me in alone for the day and take the el into the loop for shopping usually Marshall Fields. I must have been 12 or 13 at the time. I bet that wouldn't happen today. When they moved the submarine to the museum in the mid 50's it was floated to Lake Michigan and a building moving firm moved it across Lake Shore Drive. I remember a sign that said "Caution Submarine Crossing". My father took a photo of it that must be in those 12 thousand slides and negatives that my daughter scanned about 12 years ago. She was "working" as an Optometrist at a not very busy LensCrafters. They have been imported into a LR catalog but somehow the Date and Time didn't end up in the EXIF data! Maybe it is because the format does not recognize a date earlier than 1970? I am only 10% or so adding keywords to the catalog. I will look. It was undoubtedly shot on Kodachrome and if it was in the time period when Kodak marked the slides with the develop line and date I might find it. BTW Kodachrome slides dating back to 1939 were in remarkably good shape even though the were not then in acid free boxes. A few had a rubber band around a stack!