UPDATE: Please note that due to bridge improvement activities on the south leaf of the Michigan Avenue Bridge this fall, the Bridgehouse Museum will cancel its fall bridge lift schedule and access to the bridge gear exhibit through the end of the season. Work is expected to take approximately 10 weeks. Museum operations will not be affected beyond the gear viewing area, and the museum will be open regular hours through October 31.
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The adjectives “massive” and “graceful” are seldom used side by side, yet both apply equally to the Michigan Avenue Bridge as it lifts out of the way of sailboats navigating the Chicago River. Friends of the Chicago River invites you to get an insider’s view of Chicago’s most famous movable bridge in action at the McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum. Starting September 19, 2009, the museum will open on select Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m. and every Saturday at 8:30 a.m. through November to give visitors a bridge tender’s view of the bridge lift. Although walk-ins are welcome, visitors are encouraged to make reservations to view the bridge lift, as space is limited. For details, go to our Bridge Lifts page.
Every fall, 20 bridges must lift out of the way as the Chicago River becomes the grand highway on which sailboats return from Lake Michigan to their winter docks. Whether seen from the top of the bridge tower or from the river-level gear room, the bridge lift is an unforgettable experience for grown-ups and children alike. “Standing in the gear room of the Michigan Avenue Bridge, you can feel the anticipation as the gears come to life and the street starts lifting,” explains Margaret Frisbie, Friends’ executive director. “It awes us now as it must have done Chicagoans 89 years ago.”
In the 1909 Plan of Chicago, architect Daniel Burnham envisioned the Michigan Avenue Bridge as a monumental gateway between Chicago’s north and south sides. This grand dream was realized in 1920, when the bridge opened to much fanfare. Since then, the bridge has been lifting out of the way of passing boats in a spectacle of grace in engineering. The gears, driven by a 108-horsepower motor, can lift the 4,200-ton bridge out of the way of passing boats in as little as 30 seconds.
To celebrate the Burnham Plan Centennial, Friends is kicking off this bridge lift season by hosting a lecture about Chicago’s movable bridge legacy at the Bridgehouse Museum on Thursday, September 17 at noon. Chicago: A Living Movable Bridge Museum, presented by author and bridge expert Patrick McBriarty, discusses our city’s movable bridge history and, specifically, that of the Michigan Avenue Bridge, a centerpiece of the Plan. The lecture venue is particularly appropriate, as the Bridgehouse was designed by Burnham Plan co-author Edward H. Bennett. The lecture is free with museum admission. Reservations are recommended and can be made by calling (312) 939-0490, ext. 23.
The Bridgehouse Museum is located in the five-story southwest tower of the Michigan Avenue Bridge, on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive. The museum’s entrance and the gear room are located on the riverwalk level. The Bridgehouse Museum reveals the history of the Chicago River and introduces people to the marvels of Chicago’s many bridges. The Chicago River’s strategic location led to the rapid development of a metropolis on its banks. By building movable bridges, Chicagoans could unite the city that continued to develop on both sides of the river while not interfering with the river traffic that drove its economy. Each bridge is an engineering marvel, and our city is the cradle for many movable bridge innovations. Today, Chicago has more movable bridges than any other city in the world.
The museum is a project of Friends of the Chicago River, a nonprofit organization with 2,000 members that works to foster the vitality of the Chicago River for the humans, plants, and animals that share its watershed. Friends uses the museum to inform and inspire thousands of visitors to protect and improve the Chicago River. For information on how to become a Friend visit our website at www.chicagoriver.org or by calling Friends of the Chicago River at (312) 939-0490.
]]>Friends of the Chicago River discovered that as the public’s perception and understanding of the river improves, so does support for its continued recovery. This is why it is partnering with the Consulate General of Switzerland in Chicago to help Chicagoans imagine a day in the future when they can add swimming to their urban river recreational activities. Switzerland’s many river and lake baths show how Swiss cities have embraced and enlivened their rivers. These examples offer instructive lessons for the possible future of the Chicago River in our own city.
The exhibit will be installed in front of Friends’ McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum for one day only, on July 17, 2009, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. This free program includes games, quizzes, and prizes as well as discounted museum admission.
The exhibit consists of five Swiss Cross Boxes with superimposed visual images of Swiss urban rivers, lakes and swimming structures, viewed through specially designed kaleidoscopes. Visitors can look through each of the kaleidoscopes and see swimming structures and other images superimposed on the downtown river vista. The images inside the kaleidoscopes help visitors envision a Chicago River that is clean enough to swim in - just as Swiss rivers are.
Friends of the Chicago River staff will be on hand to explain the increasing use of the Chicago River for recreation, issues still facing Chicago River, and what it would take to make it swimmable in the future. Swiss Consulate staff will be on hand to explain how Switzerland’s environmental policies have helped clean up Swiss rivers, and how urban dwellers are making river swimming a popular summer recreation activity.
]]>The five-lecture series entitled Always Current: Conversations on the Chicago River reveals the river’s significance from historical, ecological, technological and economic perspectives, with an emphasis on the past 100 years. This lecture series promotes a greater understanding of the river’s significance to our region’s history and reveals the ongoing, inextricable relationship between the Chicago River and the people in its watershed.
The Bridgehouse Museum is uniquely located in a landmark tower of the Michigan Avenue Bridge, just steps away from the river it celebrates and at the heart of Chicago’s newly-expanded Riverwalk. The lectures will be hosted on Thursdays between June and September.
Reservations recommended but not required. For reservations call 312.939.0490, ext. 23.
Towards A Greener River, presented by Mark Hauser, Friends’ own education coordinator, focuses on the changes in the river’s ecology since the 18th Century.
Just Add Water, the first of two lectures presented by Dr. David Solzman, author and associate professor emeritus of geography and anthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, explores how building the Illinois and Michigan Canal to connect the Great Lakes to the Mississippi via the Chicago River sparked the growth of a metropolis. The lecture will be followed by a book signing for Dr. Solzman’s The Chicago River: An Illustrated History and Guide to the River and Its Waterways, available at the museum.
A New River Economy, presented by Cathy Hudzik Breitenbach, manager of riverfront development with the Chicago Park District, discusses the river’s current significance to Chicago, its value as a natural and civic asset and plans for riverside developments such as the new downtown Riverwalk.
A Century of Change, the second lecture by Dr. Solzman, examines the changes that have defined the Chicago River in the 20th Century, starting with the river’s reversal and concluding with its ongoing renaissance as wildlife returns and people increasingly use the river for recreation. The lecture will be followed by a book signing for Dr. Solzman’s The Chicago River: An Illustrated History and Guide to the River and Its Waterways, available at the museum.
Chicago: A Living Movable Bridge Museum, presented by author and bridge expert Patrick McBriarty, discusses our city’s moveable bridge history and, specifically, that of the Michigan Avenue Bridge, a centerpiece of the Burnham Plan.
Cost:
Free with museum admission
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Join Friends of the Chicago River at the McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum for a Fish Liberation Ceremony symbolizing the return of wildlife to the river. Spend your lunch break celebrating nature along the river - or bring the kids for a fun outdoor experience! We recommend reserving your spot (and fish) ahead of time by calling (312) 939-0490 ext.23. The Fish Liberation will be preceded by a tour of Friends’ Fish Hotel, currently located on the river between State St. and Dearborn St. The free tour departs from the Bridgehouse Museum at 11:15 a.m.
Friends of the Chicago River will release 400 baby bluegill into the river. Visitors will be invited to see these fanciful creatures up close. They can adopt a fish for $5, name it (if they wish) and release it into the river. Adopting a fish will also give them free admission to the museum ($3 value).
Fish wranglers will be on hand to assist bluegill adopters net their favorite fish and release it into the Main Stem of the Chicago River. Museum staff and Friends’ personnel/fish wranglers can discuss ongoing efforts to improve the quality of the Chicago River and its banks, the increasing return of wildlife to the river, types of wildlife, and Chicago’s maritime and bridge history.
WHERE: McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum, 376 N. Michigan (southwest tower of the Michigan Avenue Bridge). Fish release will take place outside main entrance, located on the riverwalk level.
]]>The Bridgehouse Museum, seasonal and open during the summer, is open Thursdays through Mondays, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., through October 31. Admission to this unique museum is only $3, making it one of the best values in town. Children under 5 years enter free. This year, the museum’s front gates will swing open on a whole new vista: a brand new downtown Riverwalk offering an uninterrupted path between Lake Shore Drive and State Street. The Bridgehouse Museum is one of the first Riverwalk attractions to open this spring, with cafes, restaurants and other venues to follow. As the cultural anchor of the Riverwalk, the Bridgehouse Museum will also serve as the Riverwalk Information Center, where people can discover all that this new destination has to offer.
The Chicago River was once one of the busiest commercial waterways in the world, but today it is driving a new river economy. Hundreds of thousands of tourists discover Chicago’s beauty and famed architecture aboard river cruise boats, and increasing numbers of people are taking to the river’s waters in canoes and kayaks. The new Riverwalk is home to dining, bike rentals, retail boutiques and other attractions. Visitors to the Bridgehouse Museum become Chicago insiders as they discover that the river that sparked the growth of our city is now vying to become one of the great stories of successful urban river renewal.
Friends of the Chicago River opened the Bridgehouse Museum in 2006 to raise the profile of the river, teach people about their relationship to it, and build support for its continued recovery. Through the museum, Friends instills the message that the people of metropolitan Chicago have as vital a role in shaping the future of the Chicago River as they did its past.
The Bridgehouse Museum is located within the southwest tower of the Michigan Avenue Bridge, which is accessed from the Riverwalk level. Once inside the landmark bridge tower, guests can view the bridgeworks that still open and close Chicago’s most famous bridge. Exhibits on the museum’s five small floors bring to life the story of Chicago’s inextricable link with its namesake river. As the story of the river evolves through time, it reveals a concise history of Chicago as a city defined by vision, ingenuity, and determination.
In addition, museum staff will once again lead tours from the museum to the Fish Hotel, Friends’ signature habitat improvement project now located just east of the Dearborn Street Bridge. This “hotel” provides the fish in the downtown portion of the Chicago River a safe haven in which they can hide and feed among aquatic plants, since this part of the river provides little, if any shelter, for the fish that traverse it. Friends educates visitors who come to watch the fish about wildlife in the river and their ideal habitat.
]]>Members of Friends of the Chicago River have long dreamed about a continuous downtown Riverwalk where people could take advantage of the calm and beauty the Chicago River offers in the heart of our metropolis. That dream will at last become reality in 2009 - and Friends’ McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum is quite literally at the center of this major transformation.
Just outside the Bridgehouse Museum’s front door, and for one block east and west, cranes and barges loaded with construction equipment are helping change the landscape. Work is in full swing to expand the Chicago Riverwalk as one long, continuous path along the river’s Main Stem, bustling with restaurants, cafes and other attractions. The City of Chicago began construction in August 2008 and plans to complete the first phase of Chicago’s newest major civic attraction by summer 2009.
A quick tour of the Bridgehouse Museum will heighten any visitor’s appreciation for the new Riverwalk. As they explore the five stories of the bridge tower, visitors discover the downtown river bank’s progression from its natural state to industrial wharves to its present transformation into a linear oasis that is emerging as one of Chicago’s most exciting recreation destinations.
The current phase of the construction project includes widening portions of the existing Riverwalk, building walkways under the Michigan Avenue and Wabash Avenue bridges, and adding beautiful new landscaping throughout. In 2009, locals and tourists alike will be able to visit the Bridgehouse Museum and enjoy dining, shopping, and other recreation activities on an uninterrupted path between Lake Shore Drive and State Street. Further Riverwalk extension is planned for the future.
The Bridgehouse Museum is open spring through fall, and will re-open for our next season on May 15, 2009.
]]>Organized by the Chicago Loop Alliance, Looptopia is America’s premier dusk-until-dawn artistic and cultural celebration featuring 14 hours of arts, culture, architecture, and more. Inspired by “White Night” events in cities like Rome and Paris, Looptopia made its wildly successful debut as the first American event of its kind last year. This year, the event has expanded to include venues on the Chicago River’s Downtown Riverwalk, including the Bridgehouse Museum at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive and a temporary Around the Coyote Riverwalk Gallery at the corner of Wacker Drive and Wabash Street.
]]>May 1 marks the 2008 season opening of McCormick Tribune Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum. To celebrate, a fish liberation ceremony symbolizing the return of wildlife to the Chicago River is planned. For $5, visitors are invited to adopt a baby bluegill, name it if they wish, and release it into the Main Stem of the river just outside the museum’s entrance. The ceremony takes place between 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. on the Riverwalk in front of the museum.
Opening weekend events continue Friday, when the Bridgehouse Museum participates in Looptopia - Chicago’s dusk-to-dawn cultural celebration. Museum doors will stay open afterhours on May 2nd and admission will be free between 5 PM and 9 PM. The celebration wraps up on Saturday, May 3, when the first 30 guests to sign up can view the bridge lift for the regular admission price of $3, instead of $10. Please call Ozana at 312.939.0490, ext. 23, if you would like to reserve a spot.
]]>Envisioned by Daniel Burnham in the 1909 Plan of Chicago and designed by Edward H. Bennett, the Michigan Avenue Bridge and its four bridge towers were finished in 1920. They were designated Chicago Landmarks in 1991. An architectural gem in the Beaux-Arts style, the southwest tower is now home to Friends’ Bridgehouse Museum - and is currently the only one of Chicago’s many bridge towers open to the public. In designing museum exhibits, Friends integrated the exterior’s rich decorative detail against the pipes and ductwork of its functional use.
The Bridgehouse Museum uses each of the five floors of the bridgehouse to introduce visitors to the river’s history through time. The ground floor is also home to the City of Bridges exhibit, which houses the bridge’s massive gears and also highlights Chicago as the movable bridge capital of the world. The third and fifth floors reveal magnificent views of the Chicago River, effectively incorporating the river as a living exhibit. The museum is open during the summer and for special events throughout the year.
]]>The McCormick Tribune Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum was selected as an award recepient in the category Welcome to Downtown during Friends of Downtown Annual Awards Night on April 12, 2007. The Friends of Downtown Awards recognize outstanding achievements that promote downtown and help make it the well-designed, vibrant, economic heart of the city. The Bridgehouse Museum was celebrated as one of three new institutions opened in 2006 that contribute most to downtown life.
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