Museums and Collections in Illinois

Discover 27 unusual museums and collections in Illinois.

Ernest Hemingway Birthplace and Museum

Oak Park, Illinois

Ernest Hemingway Birthplace and Museum

The famous author's birthplace is preserved in a town that he once described as narrow-minded.

Permanently Closed

McDonald's First Store Museum

Des Plaines, Illinois

McDonald's First Store Museum

Despite its name, this fast food museum is actually a replica of the ninth McDonald's store.

The Money Museum

Chicago, Illinois

Money Museum

This museum celebrating the almighty dollar lets visitors literally stand in the shadow of a million bucks.

The march of time.

Chicago, Illinois

The Fountain of Time

A hollow cement depiction of time's inexorable effect on the human body.

Permanently Closed

Rock N Roll McDonald's and Museum

Chicago, Illinois

Rock N Roll McDonald's and Museum

The palatial McDonald's that inspired Wesley Willis.

Chicago, Illinois

The DNA Discovery Center

At Chicago's revered Field Museum, visitors are invited to learn about and literally explore DNA.

Metropolis, Illinois

The Super Museum

You have to love a museum with a truly dedicated focus. A focus on Superman, for example.

Intuit's main gallery. (Intuit)

Chicago, Illinois

Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art

Nonprofit art center that promotes outsider, intuitive, and self-taught art.

The front of the store. (Dave's Down to Earth Rock Shop)

Evanston, Illinois

Dave's Down to Earth Rock Shop

Shop of curiosities with a dinosaur museum tucked in its basement.

Chicago, Illinois

Busy Beaver Button Co.

The world's only known button museum.

Permanently Closed

Springfield, Illinois

Museum of Funeral Customs

The history of funerals and funerary customs.

Are we missing something unusual in Illinois?