Museum of Science and Industry changing name after $125M gift from Chicagoan Ken Griffin.

The Museum of Science and Industry will now be called the "Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry" following a donation of $125 million from the Chicago billionaire. It was the museum's board who decided to honor Ken Griffin by amending his name to the museum's name.

It’s the largest single gift in the history of the museum, which opened in 1933.

The museum was incorporated as the Julius Rosenwald Industrial Museum but was renamed the Museum of Science and Industry in 1928 – five years before it actually opened – because Rosenwald did not want his name on the museum.

“This incredibly generous gift helps ensure MSI remains a vital resource for science learning well into the 21st century,” the museum announced on its website. It explained that renaming the museum “was the most appropriate way to convey our gratitude for this gift.” Griffin is the richest man in Illinois.

Kenneth C. Griffin

The museum also insisted its mission will not change as a result of the donation, part of which will go toward a new “Pixel Studio,” which is called “a state-of-the-art digital gallery and performance space that will be the only experience of its kind in North America.

“The purpose of this gift is to allow us to continue the great work we do in support of our mission and vision,” the museum’s statement said. “MSI’s mission will remain the same as it has always been: to inspire the inventive genius in everyone, and we are grateful for this gift, which will help ensure the Museum remains a vital resource for science learning well into the 21st century.”

Private support for the museum in 2018 totaled $19 million, up $3 million from the previous year.

By Mitch Dudek, Chicago Sun-Times, Oct 3, 2019
Edited by Neil Gale, Ph.D.

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Kenneth C. Griffin - Chicago Philanthropy

• Griffin had contributed millions to the Art Institute of Chicago, public education, the Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, the Chicago Public Library, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Griffin also contributed to the Museum of Contemporary Art, the "Evolving Planet" at the Field Museum of Natural History, and endowed professorships at the University of Chicago. 

• In October 2006, the Griffins and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, funded and supported the opening of a new charter school in Chicago named Woodlawn High School.

• In 2007 Griffin donated a $19 million addition to the Art Institute of Chicago that was designed by Renzo Piano.

• In October 2009, Griffin and his wife founded the Kenneth and Anne Griffin Foundation. The foundation's contributions include $10 million for the Chicago Heights Early Childhood Center, $16 million to Children's Memorial Hospital, full funding for the University of Chicago's Early Childhood Center, and others.

• In December 2016, Griffin gave $12 million to the Chicago Park District to help fund separate paths for cyclists and pedestrians along the city's 18-mile lakefront.

• In November 2017, the Kenneth C. Griffin Charitable Fund made a new $125 million gift to support the Department of Economics of the University of Chicago, which he was honored with the department being renamed to the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics.

• A $16.5 million donation allowed the Field Museum to purchase a cast of the largest dinosaur ever discovered in 2018, a 122-foot-long Argentinian titanosaur named Máximo.

• In October 2019, the Kenneth C. Griffin Charitable fund announced a $125 million gift to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, the largest gift in the museum's history. The museum intends to change the name to the Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry. 

When the Mayor of Chicago fired all the cops. For eight hours in 1861, Chicago had no police force.

An easy exercise in local tourism would be to walk by a local police station and contemplate the night that the mayor fired the entire police force on March 22, 1861.

The state of Illinois authorized a three-man police force for Chicago early in 1835 when it was only a town, population 3,200. When it was incorporated as a city on March 4, 1837, the same three men served.

An ordinance issued on May 17, 1851, assigned the city marshal the role of the acting police chief, while the mayor was the head of the police force. The mayor could appoint officers and issue orders. In 1855 the department was overhauled and expanded the number of police to nearly 20.

Elected as a reformer against the "Red-Light" vice district in 1857, Chicago mayor John "Long John" Wentworth, an educated man from the New England area and a former newspaper editor, stood an imposing six-foot-six and weighed 300 pounds. He seized the opportunity to use his powers as the head of police.

Chicago Mayor John "Long John" Wentworth.

That April 20th, he led 30 policemen on a raid of the Sands, known today as the Streeterville neighborhood, which was a red-light district.

On April 20, 1857, William Ogden, who had been Mayor before Wentworth, and who was now an important businessman in the city, managed to purchase several properties in the Sands. He immediately ordered the squatters living in these properties out, but when they refused to budge, he begged Mayor Wentworth for help, who was only too happy to see an opportunity to eliminate the hated "Red Light" vice district. Wentworth organized and advertised a major horse race at a Chicago race track. Most of the male residents of the Sands were habitual gamblers, so the event attracted the substantial majority of their population. While the men were gone, Wentworth and Ogden crossed over to the Sands, accompanied by a team of horses. After serving prior eviction notices, the horse team was hitched to the foundations of several of the shanties, and each was pulled down. The destruction led to a small riot, with the remaining residents of the Sands running into the streets, looting their neighbors' properties, and destroying most of the rest of the district in the process. A few hours later, what was left went up in flames. 

The next day's Chicago Tribune reported a fanciful hope:

This congregation of the vilest haunts of the most depraved and degraded creatures in our city has been literally "wiped out," and the miserable beings who swarmed there driven away. Hereafter, we hope the Sands will be the abode of the honest and industrious, and that efficient measures will be taken to prevent any other portion of the city from becoming the abode of another such gathering of vile and vicious persons.

Claiming budget concerns during his second term in 1861, Wentworth reduced the police force and imposed a midnight curfew. Outraged voters prompted the state of Illinois to become active in Chicago's police politics again. On February 15, 1861, the state legislature established a Board of Police Commissioners in the city. It would be composed of three commissioners, one for each of the three districts—north, south, and west—divided by the Chicago River. The initial commissioners would be appointed by the governor and the successors would be elected.

Wentworth did not cozy to these terms. At 2 AM on March 22nd, he called all 60 or so of the city's police officers to City Hall (then on a block bound by LaSalle, Washington, Clark, and Randolph) and pulled off something of a coup. 

Chicago City Hall #4 – City Hall-County Building. In 1853, a new city hall building was constructed on the block bounded by LaSalle, Washington, Clark, and Randolph Streets. 

Chicago City Hall #4 – City Hall-County Building. As the city grew rapidly through the 1850s, the City Hall-County Building was expanded with several additions, including a third floor, a dome, and east and west wings. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed this building.

Wentworth spoke out against the Illinois state legislature's decision to establish a board of police commissioners. Governor Richard Yates wanted the police force under the jurisdiction of state government, while Wentworth wanted the police to remain a municipal force. Wentworth then fired the entire police force. From 2 to 10 AM, Chicago had no police.

The mass firing was largely a show. Few people would have known that there was no active police force. The officers were reappointed later that day. Wentworth claimed that the move would allow the Board of Commissioners to have a clean slate to begin appointing police. Instead of a city marshall, there would be a general superintendent of police.

In the hours of lawlessness, the only reported crimes were two burglaries.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.