Many of us went underground for only 25 cents

If you lived in the Chicago area, I am willing to bet that you too enjoyed this place either as a child or as an adult.

It was noisy, there was a musty smell and at times you were plunged in pure darkness, a bit scary!  No, you were not in a haunted house, but rather the wonderful coal mine exhibit at the Museum of science and industry on Chicago’s far south side at 5700 South Lakeshore Dr.

The coal mine was the very first exhibit to open when the museum opened in 1933 for the Century of Progress worlds fair.

The cleverly designed interactive exhibit re-created a working coal mine, specifically the Old Ben # 17 mine company once located in Williamson County in southern Illinois. In fact most of the equipment and machinery came from that mine which was operated by the Old Ben Coal Corporation Between 1902 and 1923. Initially real miners from Old Ben were hired as museum guides.

The illusion was so well-designed. Some of us imagined that the elevator – and blast of cold air — took us hundreds of feet below the earth. Some said how nice it was that they built a museum over a coal mine! Even the smell was an illusion. A perfumer produced a liquid odorant that allowed the exhibit to smell as though you were in a real coal mine.

The building was originally built and open as the Palace of Fine Arts for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.  After the fair and a few years of displaying world’s fair artifacts, it sat vacant for years until it was repurposed through a generous donation of $5 million by Julius Rosenwald, then president of Sears Roebuck and Company.

Initially named the Rosenwald industrial Museum, it was renamed Museum of Science and Industry in 1928 and opened in 1933. After a generous $125 million donation, the museum has been renamed to the Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of science and industry

 Illinois was the fifth largest producer of coal producing some 30% of our nation’s energy.

The coal mine exhibit promoted Illinois as the largest producer of coal dominating a good portion of the first floor with an imposing 80 foot tall tipple. There was also a fan house could develop 30,000 ft.³ of air per minute.

Let’s go!

In anticipation of our adventure we climbed three flights of stairs to the doorway of the cage car. We knew we were ready to go when we heard that loud whistle blow which was heard throughout the museum. We were one of 30 people descending down the Norberg electric mine hoist Built in 1923 and rebuilt for the museum in 1933.

We arrived in “working” coal mine, but actually we were simply lowered into the museum’s basement, replicating a coal mine. A very clever illusion indeed.

We encountered dark narrow passages, dark, mysterious, even feeling a tad claustrophobic.

The first demonstration a very noisy Rotary dump machine, enough to wake the dead or scare little children. We then boarded a mine train, an electric locomotive pulling two cars traveling at an astounding 4 miles per hour in almost total darkness. There were jolts, rattles and squeaks quite scary for a kid like me.

They demonstrated drilling and other methods as well as powering up avery noisy Joy loader, joy being the brand name of the machine.

the tour ended in the Safety Room where there was a demonstration of the Davey miner’s light invented in 1815 by Sir Humphrey Davies. It was used in the mines until the 1950. A tour guide explained that even a small hole in the mesh could cause a major explosion in the mine. To demonstrate, he placed a “defective” lamp in a wooden box, added a bit of flammable gas which caused a loud and scary explosion.

As you left the coal mine many of you then might have had lunch in the adjacent Snowball Room which was also on the basement level. Some of us purchased food but if you are the school tour you most likely brought a brown bag lunch that was waiting for you in the room.

Here is something you may not have remembered. Meet Topsy and Eva, two ordinary but live canaries that were on exhibit at the entrance to the coal mine. They were part of a safety message about the dangers of methane in the coal mine.

Canaries were used in mines from the late 1800s to detect gases, such as carbon monoxide. The gas is deadly to humans – and canaries alike – in large quantities, but canaries are much more sensitive to small amounts of the gas, and so will react more quickly than humans.

Both canaries were there for many years. Topsy sadly died in July 1957 at age 14. Both were viewed by over 10 million people. One of the most unusual objects within the museum a device that was used to resuscitate canaries in coal mines.

The Canary resuscitator It was used by minors to save the life of a canary overcome by methane.

In 1896, John Haldane, had concluded explosions were caused by a build-up of carbon monoxide and set out to find a way of detecting the odourless gas before it could harm humans.

Once the canary showed signs of carbon monoxide poisoning the door would be closed and a valve opened, allowing oxygen from the tank on top to be released and revive the canary. The miners would then be expected to evacuate the danger area.

Happily, the coal mine at the Museum of science and industry is in its 90^th year, and is still incredibly popular The museum itself has an annual attendance of upwards of 2 million people. And my guess is that a good percentage of those visit the coal mine

Real miners were brought up from the old mine in southern Illinois to act as tour guides. In later years the museum would place help-wanted ads hiring retired minors to act as tour guides.

Three of the many retired miners hired  were:

 Steve Mihalovich 1889-1968 buried   Saint Mary Catholic Cemetery

Thomas F. Valich 1886-1963 buried   Saint Mary Catholic Cemetery

John E Copher 1892-1972 buried   Oakland Memory Lanes in Dolton

They and many other real miners are long gone, as guides replaced by young guides, many with a sense of humor during the tour.

Yhe coal mine still defines what’s meant by “total immersion” in an interactive exhibit. Walt Disney would be proud. And I would be willing to bet that he himself visited the coal mine at some point. As it turned out, the coal mine became one of the biggest success stories in the history of American museums.

The coal mine was renovated in 1997 and more educational and safety features were added. The mine had real coal on its walls until 1997. 375 slabs of coal originally brought from southern Illinois were removed due to the hazard caused by its extreme flammability. It was replaced by artificial fireproof coal

For many years the coal exhibit was free or just $.25 . Today the children’s admission to the museum is $14.95 plus an additional nine dollars for a ticket to the coal mine. An adult admission is now $25.95 plus a $12 coal mine ticket totaling almost $38!

The saying goes quote don’t be afraid of the dark” but many kids like me were both scared and entertained in the coal mine. So whether you have been there as a kid or recently as an adult with your kids, you experienced one of the most popular and long-lasting exhibits.

 

And one more tidbit: There was another call mine between 1931 in 1993 at the Children’s Gallery at the Science Museum in London. You get100 trivia points if you knew that.

Please leave your memories of “our” coal mine in the comments section below. You didn’t down in the coal mine you are welcome to add comments about walking through the Human heart, The Pioneer Zephyr, watching baby chicks hatch, Main Street, the huge working train display, or the U505 submarine.

Share your memories or comments below: Thanks for reading!