Col. Wood's Museum

Col. Wood's Museum, as depicted by Louis Kurz in 1866.

Col. Wood's Museum(sometimes referred to simply as theChicago Museum) was a museum and public theatre located inChicago,Illinois.The museum was founded in 1864, but was destroyed by theGreat Chicago Fire.A second incarnation opened in 1875, but it was also destroyed by fire. The final incarnation of the museum was opened in 1884. In addition to museum exhibits, the museum in its various iterations also included a theatre which presented plays to the public.

At one point, the museum housed a pair of mummies as well assheets of papyri(which supposedly formed the basis for parts of theBook of Abraham) that had once belonged toLatter Day Saint movementfounderJoseph Smith.

History

The original version of the museum was founded by Col. John H. Wood and opened on March 22, 1864. The building was situated on the corner ofClarkandRandolph Streets.According to Perry R. Duis, the museum was Chicago's version ofBarnum's American Museum(which was located in New York City from 1841 until it burned in 1865).This incarnation of Wood's Museum contained a plethora of bizarre and interesting items that visitors could see for only aquarter,including: around sixty cases of birds, insects, and assorted reptiles; a panorama ofLondon;many model ships; paintings of Indians; a rifle owned byDaniel Boone;a scale model of theParthenon;the "Great Zeuglodon" (a 96-foot-long skeleton of aBasilosaurus); and a pair of mummies withsheets of papyrithat had once belonged toJoseph Smith(founder of theLatter Day Saint movement).

Col. Wood's Museum burned to the ground during theGreat Chicago Fire,and all of its contents were lost. Nevertheless, a week after the conflagration, Wood leased the Globe Theatre (which was located just outside the main downtown district) and began the long march towards reopening. After several years of preparations and collecting, Wood's museum was finally ready for visitors in 1875; this version too was stocked with bizarre finds, and Wood charged a quarter to visitors. The museum took up the second through fourth floors of the theater building. In 1877, this version was also destroyed by a fire, but Wood once again reopened it in 1884. He ran this final version out of the Olympia Theatre building, which he leased; a restaurant that had been operating on the main floor was retained, and Wood devoted the remaining four floors to showcasing novelties. The museum eventually increased its seating so that it could accommodate 1,000 people.

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  Col. Woods Museum before the fire
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  Col. Wood's Museum after the fire

Bibliography

• Duis, Perry (1998).Challenging Chicago: Coping with Everyday Life, 1837–1920.Champaign:University of Illinois Press.ISBN978-0-252-02394-1.
• Ritner, Robert K. (2013).The Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri: A Complete Edition.Salt Lake City:Signature Books.ISBN978-1-56085-220-9.
• Schiecke, Konrad (2011).Downtown Chicago's Historic Movie Theatres.Jefferson, NC:McFarland & Company.ISBN978-0-7864-8865-0.
• Todd, Jay M. (January 1968)."Egyptian Papyri Rediscovered".Improvement Era.71(1): 12–16.RetrievedJune 7,2011.