Part 17 - City Museum.
We were lucky enough to live within walking distance of the City Museum. It used to be called the Children's Museum, until the adults decided they were taking over. This place is the wild dream of a local St Louis artist, Robert James Cassilly Jr.
The museum is in an old 12 story building that used to house a shoe manufacturer. The first 4 floors contain 'exhibits' and the rest, except the rooftop, are off limits. The entry fee was around $15 and for an extra $5 you get rooftop access...trust me...you want the rooftop access.
Website: Saint Louis City Museum
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| City Museum main entrance on the West side of the building. |
Parking can be found all around the museum on the streets or you can pay to park in several surrounding parking decks. The entrance area was like a jungle gym, made of salvaged metal, and all connected by bridges and tunnels made of re-bar.
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| Jenny flying the plane. Hope you packed your parachute Wyatt. |
The infamous bus on top of the building, combined with the airplane fuselages, make a strange sight for unknowing passer-by's.
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| We climbed up that tunnel of re-bar in the center of the picture, out to the airplane wing. |
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| You can see the Caruthers Jones Shoe Company's mark still on the neighboring building. |
Inside, on the ground floor, you can find the ticket area and gift shop at the main entrance. Behind the ticket area to the right are the elevators, where you can skip the stairs and go directly to the roof. To the left of the ticket area, are the main bathrooms, although smaller bathrooms can be found on all floors.
The ground level is divided into two main areas: The Caverns and The Tree-House. The caves are sculpted by hand and look very real. They consist of tight squeezes and crawls just like a real cave, and we actually had a really good time with a game of hide and seek in here. The tree house is similar to the caverns twisting passages, but they are all constructed of hollowed out old tree trunks or passages made of smoothed down driftwood bound together to form a tunnel of sorts.
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| This crystal is in the middle of a large room in the cave area. |
On the 2nd floor you can find the food court and more tunnels that connect down to the caverns and the tree house. There are a couple of very large aquariums on this floor also.
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| One of my favorite pieces on the inside: Squid stairs. |
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| Mermaid Jenny. |
In one of our previous articles, we mentioned Jenny's friend Sam, and that she used to live by Saint Louis. She came down with our friend Jim to visit us for a weekend.
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| Aquarium shenanigans. |
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| Sams super strength saved her from getting eaten. |
There is a large entomology display on the 3rd floor. If that bugs you, then you can check out the skate-less skate park or go to Beatnik Bob's Arcade for some brews and a few games of pinball.
The 4th floor has access to the stairs that lead to the spiral slides that connect to the rooftop. Let me explain. These slides were once the chutes that transported shoe boxes from the upper floors to the ground. So now, there are two different chutes that function as human transportation. One goes from the top all the way down, and the other stops a few floors short of that. There is also a display of work from the famous architect, Louis Sullivan.
No pictures can do this place justice, but looking at the rooftop, you can get an idea of how crazy-fun this place really is. This is why you want to buy those rooftop passes I was telling you about. A Ferris wheel on the roof along with the bus you saw pictures of earlier are favorites for the kids. There are also several different slides and places to climb up here. The adults tend to gravitate towards the rooftop bar and outdoor patio tables.
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| The reflecting pond and the trees added some nature to the roof. |
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| Sam and Jim trying not to photo bomb us from the car behind us. |
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| Rooftop family picture. |
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| Night mantis |
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| Extreme close-up! |
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| Kids climbing the roof dome. Looks fun, but I took the stairs. |
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| View from the drivers seat. |
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| The bus. |
If you live withing a few hours drive of Saint Louis, your children will thank you for the memories they will make here. This place is unforgettable. Even if you don't have kids, but you are still a big kid inside, you need to come see what the City Museum is all about. It is truly a one of a kind bit of functional art here in the boring old Midwest.
We LOVE the City Museum-!!!
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| Exhausted from the heat, but having a great time. |
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