Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

What is Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum?

The museum is about the natural world of the Chicago region, from local wildlife to the environment around the city, with educational programs for both children and adults. Its best-known feature is a live butterfly house, where visitors walk among butterflies in flight. The butterfly house is connected to a laboratory and a program that studies and helps native butterfly species of the region.

The current building opened in 1999 and is named for Peggy Notebaert, a benefactor of the museum.

History of Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

The museum's story reaches back to 1857, when the Chicago Academy of Sciences began its first collection. For about a hundred years the academy's museum stood at another site not far away. That earlier museum became the first of what grew into eleven museums located in Chicago's parks. In 1999 the academy opened the present museum at Fullerton Parkway and Cannon Drive, giving the collection a new home in Lincoln Park, close to the zoo and the conservatory. Its long history means the collections reflect more than 150 years of study of the region's nature.

Visiting Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum: tips

The museum is listed as wheelchair accessible. Plan on one to two hours, allowing time in the butterfly house. The Lincoln Park Conservatory is about 0.2 mile away and Lincoln Park Zoo about 0.4 mile away, and the Chicago History Museum is about 1 mile away. A cafe is within about 0.2 mile, and EV charging is about 0.9 mile away.