The new Museum of Science and Industry opened to the public in three stages between 19. Kaempffert resigned in early 1931 amid growing disputes with the second president of the board of directors they disagreed over the objectivity and neutrality of the exhibits and Kaempffert's management of the staff. Kaempffert was instrumental in developing close ties with the science departments of the University of Chicago, which supplied much of the scholarship for the exhibits. In order to prepare the museum, Kaempffert and his staff visited the Deutsches Museum in Munich, the Science Museum in Kensington, and the Technical Museum in Vienna, all of which served as models. He assembled the museum's curatorial staff and directed the organization and construction of the exhibits. MSI's Board of Directors selected Waldemar Kaempffert, then the science editor of The New York Times, because he shared Rosenwald's vision. The museum conducted a nationwide search for the first director. Sewell Avery, another businessman, had supported the museum within the Commercial Club and was selected as its first president of the board of directors. Rosenwald's vision was to create a museum in the style of the Deutsches Museum in Munich, which he had visited in 1911 while in Germany with his family. In 1928, the name of the museum was officially changed to the Museum of Science and Industry. For the first few years, the museum was often called the Rosenwald Industrial Museum. Rosenwald established the museum organization in 1926 but declined to have his name on the building. The interior was replaced with a new one in Art Moderne style designed by Alfred P.
![commonwealth edison 5 steam locomotive commonwealth edison 5 steam locomotive](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/manutenzione-della-locomotiva-vapore-42929439.jpg)
During its conversion into the MSI, the building's exterior was re-cast in limestone to retain its 1893 Beaux Arts look.
![commonwealth edison 5 steam locomotive commonwealth edison 5 steam locomotive](http://www.railroadmichigan.com/steamedison.jpg)
Julius Rosenwald, the Sears, Roebuck and Company president and philanthropist, energized his fellow club members by pledging to pay $3 million towards the cost of converting the Palace of Fine Arts (Rosenwald eventually contributed more than $5 million to the project).
![commonwealth edison 5 steam locomotive commonwealth edison 5 steam locomotive](http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/lowres-picturecabinet.com/43/main/55/134878.jpg)
However, after a few years, the building was selected as the site for a new science museum.Īt this time, the Commercial Club of Chicago was interested in establishing a science museum in Chicago. The South Park Commissioners (now part of the Chicago Park District) won approval in a referendum to sell $5 million in bonds to pay for restoration costs, hoping to turn the building into a sculpture museum, a technical trade school, and other things. When the Field Museum moved to a new building near downtown Chicago in 1920, the former site was left vacant.Īrt Institute of Chicago professor Lorado Taft led a public campaign to restore the building and turn it into another art museum, one devoted to sculpture. Unlike the other "White City" buildings, it was constructed with a brick substructure under its plaster facade.Īfter the World's Fair, it initially housed the Columbian Museum, which evolved into the Field Museum of Natural History. Museum of Science and Industry from 1700 East 56th Street