Author's Note: I'm trying something a bit different with this one and taking an entire week's worth of entries to look at a major player in the Chicago museum scene. I hope you enjoy it! :)
The year is 1923. Walther Bauersfeld is working as the scientific director for the Carl Zeiss firm in Jena, Germany, and he has just hit upon something big. Using light produced by a machine in the middle of a domed room, he discovered that it was possible to project images of stars and other celestial objects onto the ceiling. Five years later, the Sears and Roebuck Company is doing land-office business in Chicago, and Max Adler(one of the company's senior officers) wants to use some of his new found riches to build a facility that will benefit Chicagoans for generations to come. Somehow word reached Mr. Adler concerning the developments that had been reached by Bauersfeld, and Adler decided to personally venture over to Europe to check out what was being done with the invention. So, Adler took his wife and architect Ernest Grunsfeld with him to Germany, saw the new projector, and on the spot decided to donate money to erect the first modern planetarium in the Western Hemisphere, with Bauersfeld's invention as its centerpiece.
In 1930, the Adler Planetarium was opened to much fanfare, along with some words from Max Adler himself: "Chicago has been striving to create, and in large measure has succeeded in creating, facilities for its citizens of today to live a life richer and more full of meaning than was available for the citizens of yesterday. Toward the creation of such opportunities I have desired to contribute.". The true coming out party for the Planetarium was the 1933 World's Fair(yes, Chicago hosted two of them), which featured the Adler on the fairgrounds(as well as the Field Museum and the Shedd Aquarium). Max Adler died in 1952, but his son merely took over the reins of the institution, and guided the Planetarium directly into its next renaissance.
When the Russians sent up Sputnik in 1957, it marked the beginning of the Space Race, which also marked a new impetus for planetariums to get their act together with new, updated exhibits. The Planetarium did this by refurbishing their building, as well as replacing their original Zeiss projector with a newer, updated model. Also, Mayor Richard J. Daley recommended that the Museum's Board work with the Chicago Park District to better administrate the Planetarium. In 1973, the Adler opened up a new underground facility, and 3 years later, the Board assumed full control from the Park District. The underground area also became the main entrance, thus closing off the main entrance area for the next 25 or so years.
The 90s saw the expansion of programming within the institution, as well as the inauguration of an annual fundraising Ball in 1994. The 1996 edition of this Ball saw the announcement of a major expansion to the institution, to be constructed by the architectural firm Lohan & Associates. Ground was broken for the structure the following February, and it was completed on January 8, 1999. The renovation of the rest of the building was completed a couple of months later, at which point the main entrance of the museum opened for the first time since 1973. The Adler continues to put out new exhibits and inspire new generations, just like Max Adler first envisioned 85 years ago.
Actually stepping inside the Adler, the first thing one notices is the smallness of the entrance lobby. Of the members of the Museum Campus, the Adler absolutely has the smallest lobby area. Of course, when one takes into account that a really busy day for the Adler is represented by 3,000 guests, while Shedd's busiest days attract upwards of 15,000, Adler really doesn't need all that extra space. The first thing you walk through is a small exhibit on Jim Lovell, which opens up into a larger exhibit about NASA's moonshot attempts, which then go into another exhibit about the moon, then you go into the Sky Pavilion. This is where you can see scale models of the Sun and all the planets of the solar system, and learn about them.
This is also where you can see an interesting quirk of the renovations. When the museum was built, there were plaques depicting each of the signs of the zodiac displayed on each corner of the outside wall. The Sky Pavilion was built as a collar around the original exterior, which means that nowadays, half of the zodiac signs are actually displayed on the inside of the full structure. Going down further, the bottom level has an exhibit on the Universe, telescopes throughout the ages, and astronomy in culture. (that's the one where they have the medieval classroom where you can dress up in scholarly garb, in case you remember any childhood field trips there.) The biggest draw of the bottom level though HAS to be the Atwood Sphere, Chicago's first Planetarium. That's enough of a spoiler, we'll talk more about the Atwood in a later entry...
The area outside of the Planetarium where the underground entrance used to be has since been leveled and turned into a plaza containing a statue of Nicolaus Copernicus. Not only is this a tribute to an astronomical icon, its also yet another tip of the hat to the Polish culture of Chicago.
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