Founded in 1857, the Academy of Sciences opened its doors to the public in 1865 as Chicago’s first museum. Just six years later, The Great Chicago Fire destroyed the Academy and all of its holdings. In response to this tragedy, museums from all over the world sent specimens to the Academy. The Matthew Laflin building housed the collections and exhibits from 1893 to 1995. Today the Academy maintains a collection of about 250,000 specimens.

In the 1980s, the Academy began providing science education programs for Chicago Public School teachers and students. In October 1999, the Academy opened the Notebaert Nature Museum in Lincoln Park at the corner of Fullerton Parkway and Cannon Drive, as a venue for the public, especially urban dwellers, to find new ways to reconnect with the natural world

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