prefire057

< --Previous  Up  Next–>

Aikens

Terrace Row

Aiken’s Museum

Photographer: John Carbutt
Location: Randolph, between Dearborn and Clark

Aiken’s Museum contained collections of natural history objects, a hall of paintings, a panorama of London, and occasional concerts held in the exhibition hall. Colonel John Wood became the proprietor of the museum in January, 1864, and realizing the importance of dramatic performances to attract visitors, he increased its equipment by annexing to the rooms already used the building called Kingsbury hall, in the rear of the museum, and added a stock theatre company to the attractions of the place. During part of the history of the museum, when Frank E. Aiken was manager, it was known as Aiken’s Museum, but the more familiar name was resumed when Colonel Wood became manager in June, 1871.