McCormick Bridgehouse and Chicago River Museum

Friends of the Chicago River has converted the storied 1920 Michigan Avenue bridgehouse into a museum that celebrates the river’s role in building Chicago into a major metropolitan city. On display are historic photos, maps and newspaper articles, but the real attraction is getting an inside view of the bridgehouse’s massive gears, mechanisms and counterweights used to lift the bridge for boat traffic on Wednesdays and weekends.