Lincoln Land Amusement Park in Effingham, Illinois. (1977-1988)

After a year's worth of telephone conversations, I finally set up a meeting with Jim Mayhood, one of Charles Eugene "Gene" Mayhood, the owner's children, at the Helen Matthes Library in Effingham on Saturday, November 2, 2013. We chatted for just under an hour. Jim gave me a Lincoln Land Amusement Park Token. Jim and his other siblings worked at the park over the years. One of their slogans was "Open Rain or Shine."

"A land of thrills. A land of excitement. Lincoln Land

offers entertainment the whole family will enjoy."

THE HISTORY BEFORE LINCOLN LAND AMUSEMENT PARK

Gene helped expand Effingham's landscape on the south side of town. He bought 30 acres of farmland and built the Village Square Mall. 

Initially, Gene started many businesses in the mall, including the Carousel Ice Cream Parlor, Computer Village, Keyboard Music Company, the Playland Arcade, Radio Shack, the Village Cinemas, and the Village Snack Bar.

When Gene reached 26 stores, he purchased 50 acres for expansion. JCPenney and an additional 14 new businesses opened at the mall, anticipating a massive boost in foot traffic from the draw of a new indoor amusement park in 1977. 

THE HISTORY OF LINCOLN LAND AMUSEMENT PARK

Gene Mayhood, the man with a lot of "get up and go," was the genius behind building the indoor Lincoln Land Amusement Park in 1977, right next door to the Village Square Mall. 

The amusement park was open seven days a week between May 23rd and September 1st and on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays for the rest of the year. The park was billed as the "World's largest indoor amusement park," with 100,000 square feet of entertainment.

The enclosed and air-conditioned Lincoln Land amusement park offered free parking and admission. It housed a giant, full-size Ferris wheel that nearly touched the ceiling, a giant carousel, the scrambler, tilt-a-whirl, the casino ride, the hurricane, bumper cars, Astro-liner, and a moonwalk, along with many other carnival-type rides.

A section had over 80 arcade games and midway games of chance with prizes awarded; clown racers, hoopla toss, basketball, milk can softball, shoot-out-the-star, loads of skee-ball machines and a grand photo center.

 

There were 4 Food and Refreshment Areas and a special area for picnics. The park also had an auditorium that would seat 1,000 people that presented family shows and live entertainment.

There was a giant stairway in the middle of the park. On the 2nd floor was the Skate Land roller rink with a huge skating floor, the Country Club Miniature Golf Course with 18 holes, and a game arcade.

Toddlers and young children could enjoy themselves in their own Kiddie Land, a specially created playland giving kids the amusement park excitement they wanted and the safety parents demanded.

In the early 1980s, the building had 15 major rides. Lincoln Land is the main reason why there are hundreds of parking spaces at Village Square Mall today, as the lot was packed nightly back in the 1970s and '80s.

Gene sold the mall to New York-based Elart Corporation in 1988. The amusement park building is now an office/retail center.

Jim Mayhood says the main reason Lincoln Land Amusement Park closed was the drastic drop in guests and the yearly increase in operating expenses. 

Jim has kindly permitted me to recreate the Lincoln Land Amusement Park logo. I offer some great items. Thank you, Jim. 

VISIT OUR LINCOLN LAND SOUVENIR SHOP

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Marshall Field Funds and Battles for “The Columbian Museum of Chicago” (The Field Museum of Natural History).

The Field Museum of Natural History was primarily an outgrowth of the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition.

"Palace of Fine Arts" was initially named the "Fine Art Gallery" for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. It was later the Field Museum's first home, then became the Museum of Science and Industry. Why was it saved? It was the only building built as 'fireproof.' No foreign countries would have sent their fine art pieces and antiquities without a fireproof building.

The first published suggestion that a museum should be formed due to the exposition was, in the opinion of Frederick J.V. Skiff, the first Director of the Museum, an article by Professor F.W. Putnam in the Chicago Tribune of May 31, 1890. In that year and the following one, Putnam also addressed local bodies on this subject, and his views were duly reported in the newspapers.

In 1891, Dr. G. Brown Goode, then in charge of the United States National Museum, while in Chicago to consult with the exposition directors regarding government exhibits, emphatically pointed out to J.W. Ellsworth, a member of the foreign affairs committee, the opportunity afforded by the Exposition to establish a great museum. Mr. Ellsworth became an enthusiastic advocate of the plan, and he was able to interest other committee members, including William T. Baker, chairman.

As a result, purchases made abroad by this committee and equipment for some departments were viewed partly in relation to their usefulness for a future museum. Early in 1892, an organization called the Columbian Historical Association was formed, at the suggestion of members of this committee, to take advantage of the privilege granted by scientific societies to import exhibits free of duty. Funds contributed to this society by various individuals were regarded by Director Skiff as the first actually given on behalf of the Museum.

In July 1893, a letter by S.C. Eastman, published in the Tribune and followed by strong editorials in other newspapers, called attention anew to the desirability of a museum and aroused much public interest. In recognition of this interest, a committee of three exposition directors called a public meeting "to adopt measures to establish in Chicago a great museum that shall be a fitting memorial of the World's Columbian Exposition and a permanent advantage and honor to the city." This meeting, held on August 7, 1893, was attended by about one hundred leading citizens. As a result of the meeting, a committee was appointed to incorporate an institution that had been projected.

Under the name of "The Columbian Museum of Chicago," an application was made for incorporation, with sixty-five leading citizens as incorporators and fifteen as trustees. On September 16, 1893, a charter was applied for and granted. The object of the corporation was stated to be "the accumulation and dissemination of knowledge and the preservation and exhibition of objects illustrating art, archaeology, science, and history."

Meanwhile, officials of the exposition had become actively interested in the plan for the Museum and began to solicit and procure gifts and transfers of desirable exhibits from exhibitors. Response to the requests generally was hearty, and material for the new Museum accumulated rapidly. On September 14, A.W. Manning of the Evening Post suggested that holders of exposition stock donate their shares to the Museum. This suggestion ultimately brought, from about 1,100 persons, gifts of certificates totaling $1,500,000 in par value.

Thus, progress was rapidly and successfully made toward establishing a great museum. As time went on, however, and exhibits accumulated in large amounts, it was realized that an adequate endowment to ensure permanency to the institution was as yet far from being obtained. The countrywide financial stringency, which developed to alarming proportions in 1894, was already felt. Strenuous efforts to raise the needed amount failed to give the hoped-for results. By the middle of October, in the words of Director Skiff, "a period of discouragement came upon those at work for the Museum. Nothing but the faith, devotion, and courage of a few men prevented the disintegration of the preliminary organization and the practical abandonment of the Museum enterprise."

Among Chicago's citizens in 1893, none stood higher in the confidence and esteem of the public than Marshall Field. Born in Conway, Mass., in 1835, Mr. Field, in early life, had come to Chicago. Here he advanced rapidly until he had primarily created and become the head of a great business that occupied a leading place in the city and attained worldwide fame.

Mr. Field favored all plans for increasing Chicago's cultural and educational facilities. Moreover, it was known that any enterprise he set his hand in would be given wholehearted and permanent support.

Therefore, on October 24, 1893, Edward E. Ayer, a member of the museum association finance committee, who later became the first President of the Museum and throughout his life remained one of its most ardent and able supporters, called up Mr. Field and set forth the peculiar opportunity which the World's Columbian Exposition afforded to establish a great museum in the city. He called attention to the fact that no such institution, as yet, existed in Chicago and pointed out that the opportunity to create through the acquisition of exhibits of the exposition should not be allowed to lapse. At the end of the interview, Mr. Field remained noncommittal but promised to consider the matter. He evidently wished to assure himself of the plan's need, importance, and desirability before committing himself to its support. His consideration quickly resulted in a favorable decision, and on October 26, he announced that he would contribute the sum of $1,000,000 to establish the proposed museum.

The gratification of the committee on receiving this announcement can well be imagined. Everyone knew that it meant the success and permanence of an excellent museum for the city. It is doubtful if, up to that time, any museum had ever received so munificent a gift. As a single gift for museum purposes, it shattered all precedents.

The establishment of the Museum was assured, and other contributors promptly appeared. George M. Pullman and Harlow N. Higinbotham each subscribed $100,000. Other contributors of funds included Mrs. Mary D. Sturges, the McCormick Estate, P. D. Armour, Martin A. Ryerson, R. T. Crane, A. A. Sprague, and many other leading citizens. Together with donations of exposition stock, their contributions totaled nearly one-half million dollars by the end of the following year.

These funds enabled purchases of extensive collections or important exhibits shown at the exposition. Such assets included the War natural history collection, the Tiffany collection of gems, the collection of pre-Columbian gold ornaments, the Hassler ethnological collection from Paraguay, collections representing Javanese, Samoan, and Peruvian ethnology, and the Hagenbeck collection of about 600 ethnological objects from Africa, the South Sea Islands, British Columbia, et cetera.

A spirit of generous cooperation was aroused on all sides, and donations of exhibits and collections of great value were received in large numbers. Mr. Ayer presented his extensive anthropological collection, chiefly devoted to the ethnology of the North American Indian. The Museum was acquired by purchase and gift, and almost all the extensive collections made by the Department of Anthropology of the exposition. The technical and special collections created by the Department of Mines, mining and Metallurgy of the exposition were presented, together with the exhibition cases, as were also collections from 130 exhibitors in the same department. From exhibitors in agriculture, forestry, and manufacturing departments of the exposition, collections of timbers, oils, gums, resins, fibers, fruits, seeds, and grains were contributed in such a large quantity and variety as to ensure for the first time in any general natural history museum the formation of an adequate department of botany.

THE BATTLE OF A LIFETIME
Fights broke out that involved bitter differences of opinion over the city's lakefront: Should it be left pristine or dotted with cultural amenities?

Two local moguls squared off: Marshall Field, who made State Street the city's shopping Rialto, on the side of a proposed museum, against Arron Montgomery Ward, who made Chicago the hub of the mail-order industry and was a staunch protector of the city's lakefront as a public space.

Lawsuits involving arcane legal principles were accompanied by insults worthy of a guttersnipe. Ward's attorney accused Field of building a monument to himself, facetiously adding: "And being a poor man, he could not afford to pay for a site. Now it is proposed to secure a site from the city of Chicago by violating a trust."

That battle, which would ultimately outlive one of the combatants, began October 27, 1893, when Field pledged to contribute $1 million ($33.5M today) toward a museum to permanently house exhibits from the World's Columbian Exposition, which was about to close. 

Others involved in the project recognized that a famous name attracts others with money. So a year later, the museum was renamed the Field Columbian Museum, subsequently shortened to The Field Museum, changes that lived up to their promise. John G. Shedd, the second president of Marshall Field & Co., would endow the aquarium alongside the Field Museum. Max Adler, vice president of Sears, Roebuck & Co., would do the same for the nearby planetarium.

It immediately put Field on a collision course with Montgomery Ward, the self-described guardian angel of Chicago's lakefront. Ward was defending the 1836 mandate to keep Chicago's lakefront public ground.

The Field Museum was initially sited for the lakeshore at Congress Parkway, and Ward filed a lawsuit upon its announcement. He claimed that when he purchased nearby property, "he relied on plats ... in which appeared the words: 'Public ground, a common to remain forever open, clear and free from any buildings or other obstruction whatever.'" Still, Ward was open to compromise, tired after years of hectoring and suing the city to clean up what is now Grant Park, which was then little more than a dumping ground. If guaranteed that the museum would be a unique exception, Ward would drop his opposition.

But developers were rushing proposals to the park's commissioners, who rejected Ward's offer. The game was on.

The combatants were very different types. The Field had a broad circle of friends, business associates, and fellow philanthropists to support his fight for the museum, and Ward was a loner who shunned social gatherings. 

Ward had one critical ally, however: Time. Like a sports team, he could win by running out the clock.

Field, who died in 1906, left an additional bequest of $8 million (Today: $226 M) for the museum, but his donation was contingent upon the city providing a site, free of charge and within six years of his death. Ward knew that he would win if he could keep the project tied up in the courts until midnight on January 1, 1912.

Accordingly, the legal papers flew back and forth, accompanied by a war of words. Field's supporters played on the public's heartstrings. 

There were oddball legal maneuvers. The Illinois legislature passed a bill in 1903 enabling the park board to void Ward's easement on Grant Park, his legal right to have it free of buildings. "You can pass all the state legislation you want to," an aide to Ward responded, "but it will not be constitutional if Mr. Ward complains." Indeed, the Illinois Supreme Court sided with Ward, as it did on several occasions.

Stymied, the museum's partisans offered ways out of the deadlock. Stanley Field, Marshall Field's nephew and successor, lobbied the state legislature in 1910 on behalf of a bill that would grant the museum submerged land in Lake Michigan to fill in and build on the resulting island. The project was dubbed the Atlantis Museum, but Ward vetoed it.

The park board offered a site in Garfield Park and then an alternate one in Jackson Park, the site of the World's Fair that gave birth to the museum project. The clock was ticking down, and the museum trustees were about to settle for the latter offer. But at the last minute, the Illinois Central Railroad offered land at 12th Street upon which it had planned to build a terminal.

That is where the Field Museum of Natural History was finally built, starting in September 1911.

The New Field Museum under construction. Date unknown.

The battle of the Titans had ended in a draw. Field got his museum, albeit posthumously. Ward, who died in 1913, lived to see his unspoiled lakefront. Chicagoans got both: a world-class museum and an incomparable shoreline.

The Field Museum of Natural History's opening day is May 2, 1921.

Perhaps balancing the exhausting struggle that accompanied its birth, the Field Museum opened without fanfare on May 2, 1921. "The doors were opened at 2 o'clock, and the first of the 8,000 guests entered," the Tribune observed. "Speeches and music would have been superfluous."

The Field Museum of Natural History was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

Name Change Timeline
Originally named the "Columbian Museum of Chicago" in honor of its origins, it was incorporated by the State of Illinois on September 16, 1893, for the purpose of the "accumulation and dissemination of knowledge, and the preservation and exhibition of artifacts illustrating art, archaeology, science, and history." The Columbian Museum of Chicago occupied the only building from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park, the Palace of Fine Arts. The building is now home to the "Museum of Science and Industry." 

On November 10, 1905, the museum's name was changed to the "Field Museum of Natural History" to honor its first significant benefactor, Marshall Field, and reflect its focus on the natural sciences.

By the late 1930s, the Field Museum had emerged as one of the three premier museums in the United States.

On December 6, 1943, the Trustees voted to change the Museum's name to Chicago Natural History Museum.

From 1943 to 1966, the name Field was completely removed, and the museum was recast as the Chicago Natural History Museum. But when Stanley Field, Marshall's nephew and the museum's president for over 50 years, passed away in 1966, its name was switched back to its pre-1943 moniker to honor the Field family's service again.

On March 1, 1966, Trustees voted to change the Museum's name back to "Field Museum of Natural History."

Excerpt from the "Bulletin Field Museum of Natural History." Vol.37, № 3, March 1966

Mr. Field's grandson, Marshall Field III, made contributions between 1925 and 1949 approximating in amount those of his grandfather. His major gift, made at the time of the Museum's 50th Anniversary in 1943, was the stimulus for the institution to enter the greatest period of growth in its history. From 1943 to 1965 the size of the staff doubled and the size of the collections more than tripled.

Stanley Field, the nephew of the first Marshall Field, served as President and Chairman of the Board of the Museum for more than 50 years, until his death in 1964. He made large financial contributions to the Museum, but even more important, he, more than any other individual, built the distinguished institution that exists today (in March 1966). Other members of the family have also served the Museum. Marshall Field II and Marshall Field IV were Trustees during their lifetimes, and Joseph N. Field has been a Trustee for more than 30 years.

MY MARSHALL FIELD & COMPANY ARTICLES

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The Lunchtime Theater - Chicago Century of Progress International Exposition World's Fair. 1933

THE DIGITAL RESEARCH LIBRARY OF ILLINOIS HISTORY JOURNAL™ PRESENTS

THE LUNCHTIME THEATER.

Chicago Century of Progress International Exposition World's Fair. 1933

 A Century of Progress International Exposition was the name of a World's Fair held in Chicago from 1933 to 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial. The theme of the fair was technological innovation. The fair's motto was "Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Conforms."

The architectural symbol was the Sky Ride, a transporter bridge perpendicular to the shore on which one could ride from one side of the fair to the other. The Sky Ride was designed by the bridge engineering firm Robinson & Steinman, that ferried people across the lagoon in the center of the fair. It was demolished after having carried 4.5 million riders during the run of the fair. The Sky Ride had an 1,850-foot span and two 628-feet tall towers, making it the most prominent structure at the fair. Suspended from the span, 215 feet above the ground, were rocket-shaped cars, each carrying 36 passengers. 

Hollywood Kiddieland on McCormick Boulevard and Devon Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. (1949-1974)

"Hollywood Kiddieland" was an amusement park in the area we now know as "Lincoln Village," on the Southeast side of McCormick Boulevard and Devon Avenue. The address was 6301 North McCormick Boulevard, Chicago. It is actually in the northeast corner of the North Park Community of Chicago.

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Thought Bounce Land Trampoline Park was at Hollywood Kiddieland? My article will definitely surprise you!

 

Main Entrance.

Pony Rides

Edward "Buddy" Louis Klatzco's parents, Louis & Mrs. Klatzco, and brother, Richard, opened Hollywood Kiddieland in 1949. When Buddy returned home after serving in the Army during the Korean War, he started Hollywood Miniature Golf next to Hollywood Kiddieland and added batting cages in 1966.

Photo of Mark Lassman at Hollywood Kiddieland, Chicago, June 1960.

In 1955, the five Acciari brothers bought Hollywood Kiddieland from the Klazcos. Their purchase included 18 rides and concession stands. Geoff Acciari ran Kiddieland along with Ray Angelini, who was the majority owner, holding a 51% interest in Hollywood Kiddieland. 

Photo by: Walter Rieger

The Swingin' Gym [my personal favorite].

They added an arcade for the 1958 season. The Klazco family kept the title of the land, plus the batting cages and miniature golf course.

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The Klatzco family bought Novelty Golf and Games in Lincolnwood in the mid-60s. Novelty has two miniature golf courses and a 19th hole, like a pinball game where you would shoot your golf ball and win a free round of golf if the ball went into the one and only hole in the center. The game room was packed full of pinball machines and, later, video games, but it was small. In later years, they built batting cages.

In the late '60s, Hollywood Kiddieland ride tickets cost 20¢ each or six for a dollar. At the season's opening, Kiddieland offered free tickets in exchange for the cardboard caps from glass milk bottles. Mothers across West Ridge, Rogers Park, and surrounding communities saved bottle caps over the winter. Opening day saw record crowds of kids and their moms lining up at the ticket booths with their "pot-o-gold" ─ large bulging bags of milk bottle caps.

There were a couple of food concession stands and a small Souvenir Stand. 

Like many other Chicagoland "Kiddie Parks," Hollywood Kiddieland had a fire truck used to pick up birthday party guests at their homes and deliver them to the amusement park. When the fire truck wasn't picking up partygoers, it was used as a ride in the park. 

The Klatzco family closed Hollywood Kiddieland, the batting cages, and the miniature golf course in 1974 but continued to run Novelty Golf and Games (and still open at the Northwest corner of Devon and Lincoln Avenues in Lincolnwood, Illinois), where Buddy Klatzco was co-owner.

After the 25-year property lease expired in 1974, Hollywood Kiddieland was sold.

VISIT OUR HOLLYWOOD KIDDIELAND SOUVENIR SHOP

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

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NOTE: Bounce Land Trampoline Parks were around from the late 50s to the early '60s. One was on Devon Avenue just east of Lincoln Avenue on the Chicago side of Devon. Many people associate this Bounceland with Hollywood Kiddieland in Chicago, but as you can see from the map below, they are different businesses. Follow the link to Bounce Land above to see a map of where Bounce Land and Hollywood Kiddieland are located.

The Viking Ship at the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition.

The Viking ship, which divides the naval honors with the Spanish caravels, is constructed on the model of that discovered in the “Kingsmound” at Gokstad, near Sandefjord, Norway, by a sailor in 1880, and built at Christen Christensen's Framnes Shipyard in Sandefjord, Norway in 1892-93 by popular subscription for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition to be held in Chicago.

Captain Andersen and the Viking Ship Crew of 11 Sailed from Norway, Across the Atlantic Ocean in 27 Days Without any Assistance to Chicago's World's Fair in 1893.

She is of oak, clinker-built, its planks are fastened together with thousands of iron rivets, caulked with cow's hair spun into a sort of cord, seventy-five feet overall in length, sixty feet on the keel, a beam of fifteen and a half feet, and a draught (British spelling of draft) of three and a half.

At the prow rises high in the air a great carved dragon's head, and the tail of the beast appears at the stern, both richly gilded and the splendor of the vessel is further increased by the row of shields along each bulwark, in yellow and black, and, when in commission, by the red and white striped roofing.

At the stern is a massive “high seat” for the chief or “Jarl,” covered with carved Runic inscriptions; there are no decks excepting two small ones, fore, and aft, and the rigging consists of one mast that can be taken down, and one yard carrying a great square sail. The oars are sixteen on each side, each seventeen feet long, and the ship is steered by an oar on the starboard side, near the stern, after the old sea-king fashion. At sea, the Viking averaged 10 knots and the hull was observed to flex with the waves.

In 1893 the Viking sailed from Norway to Chicago, via the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes, and became one of the greatest attractions at the World's Columbian Exposition. 

At the conclusion of the World’s Columbian Exposition, the Viking ship was towed through the Illinois and Michigan Canal, then down the Illinois River to where the Illinois River meets the Mississippi River at Grafton, Illinois, 38 miles north of downtown St. Louis down the Mississippi. She then sailed down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. 

The next year she was returned to Chicago and presented to the Field Columbian Museum. Soon the Viking was in dry-dock alongside the Museum.

The Federation of Norwegian Women's Societies saw her plight and began a restoration effort. 

The Viking Ship sitting beside the Field Museum before it became the Museum of Science and Industry. The Viking Ship will soon be transported to the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

After her repair and restoration, the Viking was relocated to Lincoln Park in 1920, placed under a fenced-in, wooden shelter, and transferred to the care of the Commissioners of Lincoln Park which later consolidated into the Chicago Park District.

1920 Viking Ship Dedication at Lincoln Park Zoo.

Viking at the Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, Illinois, in the early years.

Viking at the Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, Illinois, with a barbed-wire fence to keep out vandals in the later years.

Although the legal trustee of the Viking ship, the Chicago Park District set aside no funds for maintenance of the boat or its shelter. For many decades the Norwegian-American community provided maintenance to the ship. But as the years passed, the Viking began to suffer. In 1978 the Scandinavian-American community rallied by forming The Viking Ship Restoration Committee, whose goal was to restore the Viking and find suitable permanent housing.

The Committee consisted of individuals from various Scandinavian organizations. They raised funds through donations and began efforts to place the Viking ship inside the Museum of Science and Industry. Once close to success, their attempt failed.

In 1993 the Chicago Park District made it known that the Viking would have to be moved from its location to make room for the expansion of the Lincoln Park Zoo. The General Superintendent of the Chicago Park District wrote to the Viking Ship Restoration Committee, requesting that the ship be cleaned, tarped, and moved from Lincoln Park to proper storage. When the Viking Ship Restoration Committee did not respond to their letter, the General Superintendent sold the ship to the American Scandinavian Council in 1994.
The American Scandinavian Council assumed the obligation to display, repair and care for the ship within Chicago. The Council transported the Viking some 40+ miles to a materials yard in West Chicago and secured it under a canopy. Two years later the Viking was moved to Good Templar Park in Geneva, Illinois.

The American Scandinavian Council invested a portion of its money in blueprints and architectural plans for several possible locations. The Council came close to placing the Viking in its own museum, at one time on Chicago's museum campus, and at another time near Navy Pier, but the attempts failed. In 2001 the Scandinavian-American Council ceased to exist before accomplishing its obligations.

The Viking ship remains in Good Templar Park in Geneva, Illinois. The fabric canopy has been replaced several times. The dragon "head" and "tail" of the Viking ship are in storage at the Museum of Science and Industry.

A ship this beautiful, which we also believe is the largest remaining artifact of the World's Columbian Exposition in Illinois, deserves to be preserved. The Viking should be valued for the fine ship she is and placed into a museum.

On February 28, 2007, the Viking was declared one of ten most endangered historic sites in Illinois by "Landmarks Illinois", a statewide historic preservation advocacy group.

On November 10, 2007, the Viking received a $52,000 Partners in Preservation grant from American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The Trusteeship of the Viking Ship was officially transferred from the Chicago Park District to Friends of the Viking Ship in a courtroom signing of an agreed order on September 12, 2012.

On Tuesday, May 10, 2022, the "head" and "tail" of the dragon that were in storage for years at the Museum of Science and Industry, were removed to rejoin the Viking Ship in Geneva, Illinois.

VIDEOS

The Most Beautiful Ship Ever Built.

The Viking Ship That Sailed From Norway in 1893

to Chicago's World Columbian Exposition.

The Viking Ship is currently located in Geneva, Illinois at Good Templar Park. The Viking Ship Exhibit is scheduled to open in June of 2020. See the wonderful stabilization work that has been done. Walk up the ramp to the viewing platform and see inside. Come on a scheduled Saturday. Guided tours begin every 30 minutes. Call ahead: (815) 315-8112.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.