SOLD OUT! Walking Tour | Sheffield Stroll
2025-08-24 12:00 - 14:00 (America/Chicago) | Fullerton Red/Brown Line L stop, 943 W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago, IL, 60614
Join CHM History Buff volunteer guide Dave Gudewicz to explore the history of the Sheffield/DePaul neighborhood. The area was once home to immigrants who worked in the local factories, then wealthy Victorian-era families, and is now home to a university and its students. Stroll past Italianate and Queen Anne-style architecture and see the sites of Hollywood films. The tour concludes at the family-owned Kelly’s Pub where you’re welcome to grab a drink with the guide.
Tour runs 1.5 to 2 hours. Meet at the street-level entrance of the Fullerton Red/Brown Line L stop.
$25, $22.50 members
Tour also includes free admission to the Chicago History Museum, good for one week from tour date.

SOLD OUT! Bike Tour | Chicago's Fabulous Fountains
2025-08-24 14:30 - 16:30 | Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL, 60614, United States
Explore the fountains of Lincoln Park and the Near North Side with Greg Borzo, author of Chicago’s Fabulous Fountains (2017). The city is home to more than 130 outdoor public fountains, and many of them have stories to tell. This tour is 5 miles of biking at a leisurely pace and ends in Streeterville, with stops including the Fountain Girl, Children’s Fountain, Jane Byrne Plaza Fountain, and Garth Fountain.
Tour runs 1.5–2 hours. Meet at the Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60614.
$25; $22.50 members
Please Note:

Participants will be expected to sign a safety waiver.
Participants should dress appropriately, wear a properly fitted helmet, and be prepared for an active biking tour through Chicago.
Helmets are required. Those who do not wear helmets will not be allowed to participate. No exceptions or refunds.
Participants are expected to be well-versed in city biking rules and bring their own functioning bicycles. CHM does not offer bicycles to rent.

Partner Event | How Museums Can Be Better Storytellers
2025-08-28 12:00 - 14:00 | Impact House, 200 West Madison Street, Chicago, IL, 60606
Join us for a panel discussion on how museums can move beyond displaying objects to tell richer, more inclusive stories that reflect diverse perspectives and lived experiences. Hear about how funders can better understand nuanced stories in museums. Panelists include:

Dilara Sayeed, Field Museum trustee and Muslim Civic Coalition president
Emily O’Brien, DuPage County Historical Museum curator
Gwendolyn Perry Davis, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago deputy director and chief operating officer
Peter T. Alter, CHM chief historian and director of the Studs Terkel Center for Oral History

Free; RSVP required.
Light lunch will be served. Located at Impact House, 200 W. Madison St., Chicago, IL, 60606. Street parking and parking garages are available nearby the Impact House.

About Inspired Generosity
Brought to you by the WF Fund, Inspired Generosity: Muslim American Stories in Philanthropy provides a national stage for powerful stories of generosity from the Muslim American community—spotlighting tales of spirituality driven good works.
We invite you to view our stories, engaging in a collective experience that affirms how faith can nurture care for all people.

Partner Program | Youth Civics Dialogue
2025-08-29 12:00 - 13:30 | Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL, 60614, United States
Are you a civic-minded young person age 18–29? Do you enjoy exploring ways to improve the world around you? Then check out this program hosted by the Civic Success Project in collaboration with the Chicago History Museum!
Participate in a small civic conservation in which we’ll talk about our communities, the state of society, and what we all can do to make our world a better place for all! This program will take place in a safe and confidential environment in the Holleb Learning Center at the Chicago History Museum and is free and open to all individuals within the age range.
If you are interested in participating, please fill out the registration form below. Seating is limited to 20 participants. A confirmation email will be sent within 24 hours of registration with travel and arrival instructions. Food and drink will be provided.
To register, please fill out THIS FORM.

Walking Tour | Glitterati on the Gold Coast
2025-08-30 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-09-27 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-10-04 10:00 - 12:00 | Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL, 60614, United States
Join a CHM History Buff volunteer guide and whisk away to a time when Chicago’s rich and famous caroused on the coast. “Gold Coast” refers to a stretch of expensive lakefront property occupied by the city’s wealthiest residents. Before the opening of the Michigan Avenue Bridge (now DuSable Bridge) in 1920, it was isolated from the downtown business district and home to only a few wealthy families, such as the McCormicks, Palmers, and Ryersons.
The area soon became the heart of the upper crust of Chicago society. Sociologist Harvey Warren Zorbaugh, who claimed that college boys returning from the East Coast dubbed the area the “Gold Coast,” immortalized it in his book The Gold Coast and the Slum: A Sociological Study of Chicago’s Near North Side (University of Chicago Press, 1929; reprint 1983). The density of wealth in the Gold Coast buffered it against the deterioration that threatened other portions of the North Side in the 1950s.
Gaze at ornate architecture by Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan, step onto a rare wood-block alleyway, and take in Chicago’s early mansions, including the Archbishop’s Residence.
Tour runs 1.5 to 2 hours. Meet at the Chicago History Museum.
Tour also includes free admission to the Chicago History Museum, good for one week from tour date.

Walking Tour | Pilsen Murals
2025-08-30 10:30 - 12:30, 2025-09-20 10:30 - 12:30, 2025-10-04 10:30 - 12:30 | National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W. 19th St., Chicago, IL, 60608
Experience the grandness of Pilsen’s murals with local poet and multidisciplinary artist Luis Tubens. As you walk through Chicago’s capital of Mexican cultures, get the larger meaning behind the public art on railroad viaducts, buildings, and doors, which shows an evolution of the community’s Mexican identity, heritage, and activism. The tour weaves the history of Pilsen with vibrant murals and lived personal experiences.
$25, $22.50 members
Tour runs 1.5 to 2 hours. Meet outside the National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 West 19th Street.
Tour also includes free admission to the Chicago History Museum, good for one week from tour date.
Masks are optional for our outdoor walking tours. Learn more about our COVID-19 safety policies and procedures.
This tour is presented in partnership with Pilsen Public Art Tours.

Walking Tour | Historic Prairie Avenue
2025-08-31 12:00 - 14:00 | Glessner House, 1800 S. Prairie Ave., Chicago, IL, 60616, United States
During the Gilded Age, Chicago’s Prairie Avenue was regarded as “Millionaire’s Row.” The wealthy flocked to the area after the Civil War because it was close to the Loop, and it did not require its residents to cross the Chicago River.
On this walking tour with guide and researcher Tony Szabelski, stroll through the neighborhood that once boasted Second Empire, Queen Anne, and Richardson Romanesque-style homes. Learn about its rise to prominence, decline in the mid twentieth century, and the preservation efforts that led to the Prairie Avenue District to be added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Hear tales of the famous specters that supposedly still linger in the remaining structures, such as the William W. Kimball House and Marshall Field Jr. Mansion.
$25; 22.50 members
Tour runs approximately 1.5 to 2 hours, meets at Glessner House at 1800 S. Prairie Ave., and ends at The Second Presbyterian Church at 1936 S. Michigan Ave.
Tour also includes free admission to the Chicago History Museum, good for one week from tour date.
Masks are optional for our outdoor walking tours. Learn more about our COVID-19 safety policies and procedures.

Walking Tour | Historic Old Town
2025-09-06 10:00 - 12:00 | Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL, 60614, United States
The Chicago History Museum sits on the edge of Old Town, a neighborhood rich in history. The Chicago area was home to the Potawatomi, whose villages were built on these lands. After they were forcibly removed, German farmers settled there to make their homes. Since then, it has served as an enclave for Puerto Rican migrants, a home to the first gay rights organization in the US, as well a vibrant arts scene.
Join CHM volunteer Carol Fitzgibbons to explore stories of recovery from the 1871 Great Chicago Fire and the neighborhood as the center of Chicago bohemianism in the 1960s and ’70s. Highlights include a post-Fire shelter cottage, the Midwest Buddhist Temple, numerous historic residences, and St. Michael’s Church, one of only seven buildings to survive the fire.
$25, $22.50 members
Tour runs 1.5 to 2 hours. Meet at the Chicago History Museum.
Tour also includes free admission to the Chicago History Museum, good for one week from tour date.

Member Event | Grandparents' Day Oral History Presentation
2025-09-07 12:30 - 13:30 | Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL, 60614, United States
In celebration of Grandparents’ Day, CHM members are invited to join CHM chief historian & director of the Studs Terkel Center for Oral History Peter T. Alter for a story stage and presentation on the practice of oral history. Hear oral history submissions from fellow Museum members and learn about the importance of and how to conduct oral histories with your friends and relatives.
Free and exclusive to CHM members. Your RSVP includes a free ticket to the Third Act film screening and panel discussion immediately following the presentation.

Partner Event | “Third Act” Film Screening and Panel Discussion
2025-09-07 14:00 - 16:00 | Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL, 60614, United States
Join us at the Museum for a screening of Third Act (2025) and discussion moderated by researcher and curatorial assistant Dr. Lisa Doi featuring:

Tadashi Nakamura, director and co-writer of Third Act
traci kato-kiriyama, community artist and organizer
Rebecca Ozaki, Japanese American Citizen’s League Chicago Chapter program director

Generations of artists call Robert A. Nakamura “the godfather of Asian American media,” but his son and the director of the Japanese American National Museum ’s Frank H. Watase Media Arts Center, Tadashi “Tad” Nakamura, calls him Dad. As Parkinson’s disease clouds Robert’s memory, Tad sets out to retrieve his story—and in the process discovers his own.
Using the lessons Robert taught him, Tad deciphers the legacy of an aging man who was just a child when he survived America’s concentration camps, a successful photographer who gave it up to tell his own story, an activist at the dawn of a social movement—and a father whose struggles won his son freedoms that eluded Japanese Americans of his generation. Throughout the years they have made films together, with Robert always by Tad’s side. Third Act is most likely their last.
$10; free for CHM members.
Schedule
2:00 p.m. – Film screening begins
3:30 p.m. – Panel discussion begins
4:00 p.m. – Event concludes
Questions? Contact Nell McKeown, development events manager, at mckeown@chicagohistory.org or (312) 799-2112.

Author Talk | Errol Magidson, "Chicago’s Only Castle: Stories of Chicago and Beyond"
2025-09-11 19:00 - 20:30 | Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL, 60614, United States
Join author, filmmaker, and researcher Errol Magidson as he discusses the history of the three-story Givins Beverly Castle, located in Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood. Built in 1886, this building has become an important part of Chicago history and is the only building in the city described as a “castle.” Magidson brings this building and its story to life in this engaging, multimedia talk during which he will discuss the castle’s origins, its five successive owners, and its purported hauntings!
During the talk, learn the significance of each castlekeeper and the historical context of the structure’s existence, including the world fairs of 1893 and 1933–34, World War I and II, the Civil Rights Movement, all the way up through the present.
This presentation is sure to be a delight for history and architecture buffs alike!
$15; $10 members.
View the event flyer here.

Walking Tour | Paseo Boricua and Humboldt Park
2025-09-13 10:00 - 11:30, 2025-09-27 10:00 - 11:30 | Ciclo Urbano, 2459 W. Division St., Chicago, IL, 60622
Join professional guide and local resident Eduardo Arocho on a walk through Humboldt Park.
Located on the Northwest Side of Chicago, the community has been defined by its strong cultural presence throughout the ages. Humboldt Park was named after naturalist and geographer Alexander von Humboldt (1759–1859) in 1869. Interestingly, the one time that von Humboldt visited the United States, he did not travel to Chicago. The community was annexed into Chicago the same year as its naming, following the creation of the West Park System (which also includes Douglass and Garfield Park). These three parks––connected by the Boulevard Park System––were established to provide Chicago residents with some relief from the congested landscape of the city.
In a city known for its cultural and ethnic diversity, Humboldt Park stands out as the center of Puerto Rican culture in both Chicago and the American Midwest. Since the 1960s, it has been home to Chicago’s Puerto Rican community. This thought-provoking tour explores the history of the iconic West Side neighborhood through the public art proudly displayed along the six blocks of Division Street (Paseo Boricua) and in Humboldt Park.
$25, $22.50 members
Tour runs approximately 90 minutes. Meet at Ciclo Urbano, 2459 W. Division Street, Chicago, IL 60622.
Tour also includes free admission to the Chicago History Museum, good for one week from tour date.
Masks are optional for our outdoor walking tours. Learn more about our COVID-19 safety policies and procedures.
Tour presented in partnership with Paseo Boricua Tour Company.

Walking Tour | Hyde Park Murals
2025-09-14 11:00 - 13:00 | Pepperland Apartment building, 1509–1517 E. 57th Street, Chicago, IL, 60615
Join artist and educator Juarez Hawkins for a lively historical tour of the murals along the Metra underpasses linking Hyde Park Boulevard and Cornell Avenue in Hyde Park, one of the city’s most engaging neighborhoods. Take a close look at public art that tells distinctive stories about Chicago and its history, including Astrid Fuller’s Spirit of Hyde Park (1973) and William Walker’s Children of Goodwill (1977). We’ll also touch on the issues surrounding content, restoration, and reinterpretation.
$25, $22.50 members
Tour runs 1.5 to 2 hours. Meet at the Pepperland Apartment building at 1509–1517 E. 57th Street, adjacent to the 57th Street Metra Stop.
Tour also includes free admission to the Chicago History Museum, good for one week from tour date.
Masks are optional for our outdoor walking tours. Learn more about our COVID-19 safety policies and procedures.

NEW! Bus Tour | Bronzeville Murals
2025-09-14 12:00 - 15:00 | Bronzeville-Black Metropolis National Heritage Area Office, 2418 South Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL, 60616
Join author and historian Bernard Turner on this bus tour of murals on the South Side of Chicago, particularly in Bronzeville. Learn about the history of the mural movement that began in the 1960s with the Wall of Respect, as well as its impact on the political landscape of Chicago and the Civil Rights Movement.
The Great Migration, a long-term movement of African Americans from the South to the urban North, transformed Chicago and other northern cities between 1916 and 1970. Chicago attracted slightly more than 500,000 of the approximately 7 million African Americans who left the South during these decades. Before this migration, African Americans constituted 2 percent of Chicago’s population; by 1970, they were 33 percent. What had been in the 19th century a largely southern and rural African American culture became a culture deeply infused with urban sensibility in the 20th century. And what had been a marginalized population in Chicago emerged by the mid-20th century as a powerful force in the city’s political, economic, and cultural life.
$55, $45 members
Tour runs 2–3 hours. This tour begins and ends at the Bronzeville-Black Metropolis National Heritage Area Office.
Tour also includes free admission to the Chicago History Museum, good for one week from tour date.
Masks are optional but encouraged for our bus tours. Learn more about our COVID-19 safety policies and procedures.

The Guild Presents | A Visit to Anderson Japanese Gardens
2025-09-16 08:15 - 16:45 | Anderson Japanese Gardens, 318 Spring Creek Road, Rockford, IL, 61107
Join The Guild of the Chicago History Museum on a bus trip to experience Anderson Japanese Gardens in beautiful fall foliage. The 12-acre landscape of streams, waterfalls, winding pathways, and koi-filled ponds has been rated one of North America’s highest quality Japanese gardens for more than a decade.
Your visit includes a bus trip from the Museum to the Gardens and back, a two-hour tour of the Gardens, and lunch at Fresco at the Gardens. Space is limited, so get your tickets now!
$80–$85 per ticket.
Schedule
8:15 a.m. – Bus arrives at the Chicago History Museum
11:00 a.m. – Tour begins (duration 2 hours)
1:00 p.m. – Lunch at Fresco at the Gardens
2:45 p.m. – Bus departs the Gardens
4:45 p.m. – Bus returns to Chicago History Museum
Questions? Contact Nell McKeown, development events manager, at mckeown@chicagohistory.org or (312) 799-2112.

Chicago Men’s Fashion Awards 2025
2025-09-17 18:00 - 21:00 | The Walnut Room at Macy’s, 7th Floor, 111 N State St, Chicago, IL, 60602, United States
The Costume Council of the Chicago History Museum is excited to recognize and show their appreciation for Chicago’s most stylish men! Join us at the historic Walnut Room for an evening of fun and fashion as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Awards.
$125 per ticket; $100 per ticket for Costume Council members.
2025 Chicago Men’s Fashion Award Winners
Eric Curtis
Ayrun Dismuke
Graunk Enzenberger
Ian Gerard
Roy Kinsey
Dane Melick
Sandro Miller
Prince Saint
Joseph Niz
Dr. Jeff Yoder
Co-Chairs: Lizzy Lopez and Chip Hendon
Honorary Co-Chairs: David Mordini, Karen Peters and Kristin Noelle Smith
Committee: Anika Allen, Michael Anderson, Melissa Carter, David Jude Greene, Abel Rodriguez, Frank Rubel, David Sanchez, Ali Tamashiro, Adam Woitkowski
Questions? Contact Nell McKeown, development events manager, at mckeown@chicagohistory.org or (312) 799-2112

Thank You to Our Sponsors!
PRESENTING SPONSOR

RUNWAY SPONSOR ($5,000)

TUXEDO SPONSOR ($2,500)

BOWTIE SPONSORS ($1,000)
Catherine Grahn Frank Rubel
CUFFLINK SPONSOR ($500)
& Anika Allen
IN-KIND SPONSORS
Pamella Capitanini

Bus Tour | North Side Pursuits: Infamy from Lincoln Park to Edgewater
2025-09-20 10:00 - 14:00 | Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL, 60614, United States
Noted author and Chicago historian Richard Lindberg leads this tour of famous and forgotten crime locations and residences in Chicago’s North Side lakefront neighborhoods. Listen as he recalls the life and times of John Dillinger, George “Bugs” Moran, and Emma Goldman, whom the press described as “Queen of the Anarchists.” Learn about pivotal events, including the 1929 St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, 1946 “Catch Me Before I Kill More” case, and 1960 Summerdale Police Scandal. See sites such as the home of World War II Nazi saboteurs and the haunted hospital in Edgewater, where a voice from the grave identified a previously unknown killer.
Tour runs 3.5 to 4 hours and begins and ends at the Chicago History Museum.
Tour also includes free admission to the Chicago History Museum, good for one week from tour date.
Masks are optional on bus tours. Learn more about our COVID-19 safety policies and procedures.

Partner Event | Explore Your City
2025-09-20 10:30 - 14:30 | Humboldt Park Fieldhouse, 1440 N. Humboldt Blvd., Chicago, IL, 60647

Walking Tour | Sheffield Stroll
2025-09-21 12:00 - 14:00 | Fullerton Red/Brown Line L stop, 943 W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago, IL, 60614

Walking Tour | Lincoln Park’s Lost History
2025-09-28 12:00 - 13:30 | Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL, 60614, United States
From 1843 until the late mid-1860s, what is now Lincoln Park and the Lincoln Park Zoo was the Chicago City Cemetery. After the park was named for Abraham Lincoln after his assassination, graves were moved to more distant cemeteries, but evidence of the cemetery’s past remains. On this walking tour guide and researcher Tony Szabelski, explore the park’s history from the Couch Tomb to the tragic deaths along the High Bridge and the site of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.
Content warning: Discussion of death by suicide in association with the High Bridge.
$25; $22.50 members
Tour runs about 90 minutes, begins at the Chicago History Museum, and ends at 2122 N. Clark St.
Tour also includes free admission to the Chicago History Museum, good for one week from tour date.
Masks are optional for our outdoor walking tours. Learn more about our COVID-19 safety policies and procedures.

NEW! Walking Tour | Union Park and Beyond in the West Loop
2025-09-28 16:00 - 17:30 | Carter Harrison Statue, One block south of Union Park (1501 W. Randolph Street), Chicago, IL, 60606, United States
Did you know that the West Loop is home to the Haymarket Affair, a rally for workers’ rights that quickly became bloody and dangerous? Or that it’s considered the birthplace of House Music?
Join storyteller and guide Connie Fairbanks, author of Chicago’s West Loop Now and Then: People, Businesses, Buildings on this brand new tour, where she explores the rich history of the Near West Side/West Loop from the nineteenth century to the present. You’ll learn about Carter Harrison, the five-time mayor of Chicago, see a church that served as City Hall after the 1871 Great Chicago Fire, and explore spaces central to Chicago’s long and robust labor history. You can even stop by where some of the finest harps in the world are made mostly by hand!
$25, $22.50 members
Tour runs 60–90 minutes and includes one mile of walking along sidewalks. This tour begins at the Carter Harrison Statue one block south of Union Park (1501 W. Randolph Street, Chicago, IL 60606) on Washington Street between Ashland and Ogden Avenue and north of Warren Boulevard. The tour ends at Epiphany Center for the Arts (201 S. Ashland Ave., Chicago, IL 60607)
Tour also includes free admission to the Chicago History Museum, good for one week from tour date.
Masks are optional for our walking tours. Learn more about our COVID-19 safety policies and procedures.

The Guild Presents | America 250: Humanities and History
2025-09-30 11:00 - 12:00 | Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL, 60614, United States
As we approach the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, history organizations are building understanding by presenting learning and engagement opportunities encouraging people of all ages to explore our American journey toward a more perfect union, and the many hands that have shaped our democracy.
The Guild of the Chicago History Museum invites you to this special program featuring a dialogue between Gabrielle Lyon, Executive Director of Illinois Humanities and Chair of the Illinois America 250 Commission, and Erica Griffin-Fabicon, Elizabeth F. Cheney Director of Education at CHM. Over coffee and pastries, learn about the vision and priorities of the Illinois America 250 Commission and how CHM will amplify them through our collaborative “Democracy 250: Chicago is a Civic City” project. Facing Freedom in America, CHM’s permanent exhibition of which the Guild is underwriting the refurbishment, will be a central feature of the Museum’s plans to commemorate America 250.
Free.

Teacher Workshop | Field Trip of Dreams: Planning the Perfect Visit
2025-10-04 09:30 - 12:30 | Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL, 60614, United States
Teachers, are you looking for new ideas to create meaningful and engaging field trips for your students? Meet with CHM staff to explore our exhibitions and IDEA stations, try out gallery activities, and consider ways to connect your visit to your classroom instruction. Special raffle drawing for one FREE field trip bus!
Free; RSVP required. Earn 3 PD hours.

Walking Tour | Bronzeville
2025-10-05 12:00 - 14:00 | SE corner of 35th Street and Martin Luther King Drive, Chicago, IL, 60653
Join author and historian Bernard Turner on this walking tour and see the names and contributions of Chicago’s most influential African Americans on the Walk of Fame, landmarks, public art reflecting the histories of the neighborhood, and stories about the ways African Americans shaped the history and culture of this South Side neighborhood.
The Great Migration, a long-term movement of African Americans from the South to the urban North, transformed Chicago and other northern cities between 1916 and 1970. Chicago attracted slightly more than 500,000 of the approximately 7 million African Americans who left the South during these decades. Before this migration, African Americans constituted 2 percent of Chicago’s population; by 1970, they were 33 percent. What had been in the 19th century a largely southern and rural African American culture became a culture deeply infused with urban sensibility in the 20th century. And what had been a marginalized population in Chicago emerged by the mid-20th century as a powerful force in the city’s political, economic, and cultural life
$25, $22.50 members
Tour runs 1.5 to 2 hours. Meet at the SE corner of 35th Street and Martin Luther King Drive.
Tour also includes free admission to the Chicago History Museum, good for one week from tour date.
Masks are optional for our outdoor walking tours. Learn more about our COVID-19 safety policies and procedures.

NEW! Walking Tour | Mary Bartelme Park and Beyond in the West Loop
2025-10-05 16:00 - 17:30 | Mary Bartelme Park, Corner of S. Peoria St. and W. Adams St., Chicago, IL, 60607
Did you know that the West Loop’s Mary Bartelme Park is named after Illinois’s first female judge? Or that in 1988, investors purchased a cold storage warehouse and established Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Studios in this neighborhood?
Join storyteller and guide Connie Fairbanks, author of Chicago’s West Loop Now and Then: People, Businesses, Buildings, to explore the history of the Near West Side/West Loop from the late 1800s to the present. See a range of historical locations that have made the West Loop what it is today. From the new Pray for Peace sculpture to remnants of one of the largest garment districts in the US, you’ll learn about the history of this neighborhood while viewing the art and architecture that makes the West Loop such an important site in Chicago’s history. You’ll even learn where the powdered sugar doughnut was perfected!
$25; $22.50 members
Tour runs 60–90 minutes and includes one mile of walking on sidewalks. Tour begins at the corner of Adams and Peoria Streets, near Mary Bartelme Park (115 S. Sangamon), and ends at the corner of Halsted and Madison Streets, near the Midwest Bank Building (801 W. Madison St.).
Tour also includes free admission to the Chicago History Museum, good for one week from tour date.
Masks are optional for our walking tours. Learn more about our COVID-19 safety policies and procedures.
