Illinois Museum of Natural History
Long before Route 66, the area near Bloomington, IL, had an Illinois Museum of Natural History, an early science collection. A statewide natural history society started it in 1858, and it stayed at the Illinois Normal School until it closed in 1877. Nothing of it survives to visit: its rooms were on the third floor of a campus building later called Old Main, which was torn down in 1958.
What is Illinois Museum of Natural History?
This is a historical listing rather than a museum you can walk into. The collection belonged to the natural history society and lived inside the school that grew into Illinois State University. Its home building no longer stands, and the facts on file mention no marker or exhibit tied to it.
Visiting Illinois Museum of Natural History: tips
Treat this as a footnote to a Bloomington-Normal stop. Fell Arboretum is about 0.1 mile away and the Normal Theater about 0.2 mile, so both make easy companions. Sprague's Super Service, a historic building, sits about 0.8 mile off.
Practical info
- Hours
- Closed permanently
- On site & nearby
Sources: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Wikidata · official site — may be outdated. Suggest a fix
On the map
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Stops near Illinois Museum of Natural History
All of Illinois
0.1 mi from Illinois Museum of Natural History
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0.2 mi from Illinois Museum of Natural History
0.8 mi from Illinois Museum of Natural History
0.9 mi from Illinois Museum of Natural History
1.0 mi from Illinois Museum of Natural History
1.6 mi from Illinois Museum of Natural History
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