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  • HOME
  • ABOUT US
    • LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
  • EVENTS
  • LEARN
    • ONLINE STORIES
    • COMMERCE
    • MILITARY TRAINING
    • SHIPWRECKS
    • RECREATION AND TOURISM
  • VISIT
  • SUPPORT US
    • DONATE >
      • GENERAL FUND
      • THIRD FRIDAY LECTURES
      • IN MEMORIAM DONATIONS
      • SPONSOR
    • MEMBERSHIP
    • VOLUNTEER
  • News
  • Contact Us
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Explore the Collection​


A picture is worth... a thousand words

The waterways in our region determined the location of the city of Chicago and impacted our history. On the eve of statehood in 1818, Illinois moved its northern boundary sixty-one miles north to include the southern tip of Lake Michigan so that one state could control the vital link between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River system.

Our maritime history links Lake Michigan, the Chicago River, Lake Calumet, as well as beaches, deep tunnels, and pumping stations. It involves many nationalities and ethnicities of canoeists, schoonermen, lumbershovers and recreational boaters.
​
From Chicago’s Christmas Tree tradition to naval pilot training off Navy Pier, Chicago’s waterways are a major influence on our area and its productivity. Enjoy browsing our pictorial archives (and those of the Chicago Historical Society and Chicago Yacht Club, as well) and reading our stories. If you have material to share, please contact us at info@ChicagoMaritimeMuseum.org.

From the archives

Commerce and the Waterways
Military Training
Shipwrecks
Recreation and Tourism

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Online Stories
   ​​WPA Mural
   Henry C. Grebe and Co.
​   The Christmas Tree Ships​

Commerce
​Military Training
Shipwrecks
Recreation and Tourism
​Chicago Maritime Museum is a 501(C)(3) Nonprofit registered in the US under Tax ID 36-3205719

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Chicago Maritime Museum
1200 W 35th St
Chicago, IL 60609
​(773) 376-1982