Bronzeville Children's Museum is a museum in the Calumet Heights

Calumet Heights, Chicago

Calumet Heights, located on the South Side of the city, is one of the 77 well defined community areas of Chicago, Illinois. Calumet Heights is bounded by 87th Street on the north, South Chicago Avenue on the east, and railroad lines on the west and south . It includes the neighborhoods of Calumet...

 community area

Community areas of Chicago

Community areas in Chicago refers to the work of the Social Science Research Committee at University of Chicago which has unofficially divided the City of Chicago into 77 community areas. These areas are well-defined and static...

 of the South Side

South Side (Chicago)

The South Side is a major part of the City of Chicago, which is located in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Much of it has evolved from the city's incorporation of independent townships, such as Hyde Park Township which voted along with several other townships to be annexed in the June 29,...

 of Chicago. It is the first and only African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 children's museum

Children's museum

Children's museums are institutions that provide exhibits and programs to stimulate informal learning experiences for children. In contrast with traditional museums that typically have a hands-off policy regarding exhibits, children's museums feature interactive exhibits that are designed to be...

 in the United States. Founded in 1998, the museum moved to its current location at 9301 South Stony Island Avenue

Stony Island Avenue

Stony Island Avenue is a major thoroughfare on South Side of the city of Chicago, designated 1600 East in Chicago's street numbering system. It runs from 56th Street south to the Calumet River. Stony Island Avenue continues sporadically south of the Calumet in the southern suburbs, running...

 in the Pill Hill

Pill Hill, Chicago

Pill Hill is a neighborhood in the Calumet Heights community area on the South Side of Chicago.-Geography:According to The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago, the neighborhood is the more affluent portion of the Stony Island Heights neighborhood that occupies the eastern two-thirds of Calumet Heights...

 neighborhood in 2008.

History

In 1998, Peggy Montes founded the museum in at 97th and Western Avenue

Western Avenue (Chicago)

Western Avenue is the longest continuous street within the city of Chicago at in length. Western Avenue extends south as a continuous road to the Dixie Highway at Sibley Boulevard in Dixmoor, giving the road a total length of . However, Western Avenue extends intermittently through the...

. A retired Chicago Public Schools

Chicago Public Schools

Chicago Public Schools, commonly abbreviated as CPS by local residents and politicians and officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, is a large school district that manages over 600 public elementary and high schools in Chicago, Illinois...

 teacher she was motivated to start the museum after attending a museum convention where she visited numerous children's museums. It was formerly located in the Evergreen Plaza on the lower level in a 1275 square feet (118.5 m²) space. The relocated museum opened on August 19, 2000 in a space ten times larger and with three times as more exhibits than the prior home. Construction of the new museum location was sponsored by Commonwealth Edison

Commonwealth Edison

Commonwealth Edison is the largest electric utility in Illinois, serving the Chicago and Northern Illinois area...

. Jewel-Osco became a sponsor of the museum in 2000.

Mission

The Museum is designed to serve children between the age of 3 and 9. The museum is located away from the Bronzeville, Chicago neighborhood bounded by 26th Street and 51st Street on the north and south, respectively, and Wentworth Avenue and Cottage Grove Avenue. Nonetheless, the museum was named after the neighborhood, which is the neighborhood where African Americans settled in large concentration in Chicago. Although over 100 children's museums serve the youth of America, this is the only one that focuses on African American culture and history.