What are the opening hours?

Monday 10am - 5pm Thursday 10am - 5pm Friday 10am - 5pm Saturday 10am - 5pm

McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum

Name: McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum
Address: 376 N Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60601, US
Telephone: +13129770227
Price range: $

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McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum

The McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum celebrates Chicago’s river and movable bridges We will be re-opening May 2021.

Join us to explore a historic bridge tower and learn the history of the Chicago River and its famous movable bridges.

07/24/2026

Se ofrecen visitas guiadas en español los sábados de julio a octubre. Las visitas comienzan a las 3:00 p.m. en el vestíbulo del museo y duran aproximadamente 60 minutos. ¡Regístrese hoy!

07/17/2026

Our Happy Hour Speaker Series continues Thursday 7/23 with Preserving and Reactivating Chicago’s Bridgehouses for Community.

Chicago’s historic bridges and their tender houses are among the city’s most recognizable civic landmarks, standing as enduring symbols of engineering innovation and the river that shaped Chicago’s growth. Yet many of our bridgehouses remain vacant and underutilized, disconnected from the communities that surround them.

Join Preservation Chicago Executive Director Ward Miller and Tender House Project founder Mejay Gula for a conversation about preserving and reimagining these remarkable bridge operator buildings for future generations. It’s hosted by the McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum, a prime example of how these buildings can be repurposed for the public good.

This speaker series is free and open to the public. Complimentary beverages will be available and the event occurs on the Bridgehouse Museum plaza at Michigan and Wacker on the Chicago Riverwalk. Seating is limited and will begin at 4:30pm. Join us!

07/05/2026

Our Happy Hour Speaker Series continues this Thursday, July 9th with Water Impacts of Data Centers.

Join us to celebrate 20 years of the McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum all season long. Enjoy local beverages out on our riverfront plaza while you learn from local experts who bring to life key aspects of the Chicago-Calumet River system, wildlife, history, public policy, and community engagement throughout the summer.

As data center development accelerates across the region, what does it mean for the Chicago-Calumet River watershed? This panel will examine the water and ecological impacts of data centers, including growing demands on local water resources and implications for climate resilience and wildlife. The conversation will highlight emerging policy approaches aimed at addressing these challenges, including efforts from the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus Data Centers Task Force and including the Illinois POWER Act.

This event is free and open to the public, and donations to Friends of the Chicago River are encouraged to support the Bridgehouse Museum’s programming.

06/24/2026

Are you curious about the species of crayfish found in the Chicago waterways? Did you know that we have native crayfish and invasive crayfish? Have you ever wanted a shirt with a crayfish on it?

If you have wondered about any of these questions, we have the perfect, free event for you! The Bridgehouse Museum Happy Hour Speaker Series continues Thursday 6/25 with “Native and Invasive Crayfish of Chicago” presented by Reuben Keller. This free event occurs on our plaza on the Chicago Riverwalk and includes complimentary beverages courtesy of Goose Island. Chicago River Day shirts featuring the virile crayfish will also be available at the event for a donation.

Join us for some fun! 🦞🦞

06/19/2026

In honor of Juneteenth, we are celebrating one of the many important Black Chicagoans that is memorialized along the African American Heritage Water Trail. Hazel Johnson is known as the “Mother of Environmental Justice” for the way she fought environmental racism as the founder of People for Community Recovery.
Johnson lived in the Altgeld Gardens segregated housing project on Chicago’s Southeast side. After her husband died of lung cancer, Johnson began to investigate the link between the illnesses which plagued her community and the “toxic donut” of landfills, sewer treatment plants, and factories. Through tireless research, she proved the Chicago Housing Authority had contributed to and hidden the effects of the toxic waste dump beneath Altgeld Gardens as well as lied about their use of asbestos in their buildings.

Johnson, as the founder of the environmental justice movement, sought to fight environmental racism which concentrated environmental abuses on poor communities of color. Her story is part of the 180 years of African American history celebrated on Openlands and The Calumet Heritage Area’s African American Heritage Water Trail.

Check out https://openlands.org/projects/the-african-american-heritage-water-trail/ for more information!

06/14/2026

Join us on June 25 for our next free Speaker Series event! Learn about Chicago’s crayfish and enjoy a free beverage on the Riverwalk!

Check out our website for more information: https://www.chicagoriver.org/events/happy-hour-speaker-series-crayfish-of-chicago

We hope to see you there!

05/26/2026

Join us to kick off the celebration of 20 years of the Bridgehouse Museum for our Happy Hour Speaker Series on Thursday, June 4th! The Otter Society presents this exciting chat — “Riverfronts of this Century” featuring architect & city planner Richard Wilson from and Friends own Planning Director Adam Flickinger.

Our Happy Hour Speaker Series is free, open to the public, and guests are welcome to enjoy beverages from while they listen. This special event will also include after-party access to our Bridgehouse Museum to celebrate this monumental anniversary.

05/16/2026

It’s a beautiful day for a bridge lift!

Bridge lifts typically occur in the spring and the fall for the sailboats coming in and out of Lake Michigan. In the spring, most boats are traveling from the south branch of the river, which means they go through 20+ bridges before they get to our DuSable bridge. This makes it difficult to predict the timing of the lift, but they usually occur between 11am and 2pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays. If you arrive at the Bridgehouse in that time you may get lucky to see one!

05/02/2026

Join us to celebrate 20 years of educating the public about the Chicago-Calumet River system at our opening day in one week! As always, admission is free with donations encouraged and welcomed. Meet our new staff, enjoy some beautiful views of the city, and maybe even see the DuSable Bridge lift!

After we open for the season, we will resume our normal operating hours through October.

03/26/2026

Friends of the Chicago River is hiring Bridgehouse Museum Associates for our 20th anniversary season. This part time (28 hours/week) position is seasonal and runs early May through late October.

More information can be found in the link in our bio.

Address

376 N Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL
60601

Opening Hours

Monday	10am - 5pm
Thursday	10am - 5pm
Friday	10am - 5pm
Saturday	10am - 5pm

Telephone

+13129770227

Website

http://www.bridgehousemuseum.org/

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