Griffin Museum of Science and Industry
A captured U-boat, working coal-mine descent, giant model railroad, aircraft, storms, and hands-on experiments fill the last major building of the 1893 fair.
Artwork inspired by Manierre Dawson
Griffin MSI works because its strongest exhibits are systems you can enter or watch operate. The U-505 submarine is not merely a large object: its hull, cramped interior tour, capture story, and conservation engineering create competing military, human, and technical readings. The Coal Mine and Great Train Story likewise make scale and sequence legible.
Reserve timed experiences before wandering; popular tours can sell out even when general admission remains. The 1893 Palace of Fine Arts is itself an artifact, rebuilt in limestone after the Columbian Exposition. Balance spectacle with one process-focused gallery—weather, farming, transportation, or manufacturing—where controls and demonstrations reveal causes rather than only outcomes.
- Building
- 1893 Palace of Fine Arts
- Centerpiece
- U-505 submarine
- Reserve
- Timed tours early
Quick guide
- Book the scarce thing
- Secure the U-505 or Coal Mine time first, then design the rest of the route around it.
- Trace one system
- Follow energy, material, or information through a working exhibit instead of pressing every button.
How to make Griffin Museum of Science and Industry count
- Book the scarce thing
- Secure the U-505 or Coal Mine time first, then design the rest of the route around it.
- Trace one system
- Follow energy, material, or information through a working exhibit instead of pressing every button.
- Read the vessel
- Compare the submarine exterior, capture interpretation, and interior constraints as three different kinds of evidence.
- Look at the shell
- Step outside to see how the fair-era classical building contains a modern science museum.
Good to know
Open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., with closing extended to 5:30 p.m. during major school-break periods. The museum closes on Thanksgiving and Christmas. The museum-owned underground garage enters near 57th Street and Cornell Drive. Validate the parking ticket with museum admission; metered exterior lots are separately operated.
Notice these
- U-505 submarine
- Coal Mine descent
- Great Train Story