Field Columbian Museum (1894–1920)

Sep 13, 2011



Opened in 1894, the Field Columbian Museum was created to house the artefacts from the anthropology, botany, geology and zoology collections at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Originally named the Columbian Museum of Chicago, the museum originally occupied the only building remaining from the Exposition, the Palace of Fine Arts, now home to the Museum of Science and Industry. In 1921 the Museum moved to its present site on Chicago Park District property in the centre of town. The Museum has undergone a few name changes in its time. In 1905, the name changed to Field Museum of Natural History to honour the Museum's first major benefactor, Marshall Field, and so also to better reflect its focus on the natural sciences. A further name change occurred between 1943 and 1966, when the museum was known as the Chicago Natural History Museum, before it reverted to the Field Museum of Natural History.