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John G. Shedd Aquarium: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow At the time, Chicago's most famous resident, Al Capone, was splitting his leisure hours between three opulent city residences. Chicago Cub outfielder Hack Wilson was enjoying a break from baseball, unaware of the record-breaking 191 RBI effort he would produce the following summer. And breadlines were already a daily occurrence, as the general public reeled from the effects of the stock market crash just two months earlier. |
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 Meanwhile, on a small peninsula jutting into Lake Michigan, adjacent to the Field Museum, something even more remarkable was taking place. Here, on Dec. 19, 1929, the city of Chicago gave its residents and the world an early Christmas present by opening the John G. Shedd Aquarium, a gift of benefactor John Graves Shedd. At the time, it was the largest aquarium in the world.Created with a mandate to study, protect and exhibit all aquatic life and help visitors to learn about the natural world, the Aquarium, housed in a classical Greek-inspired Beaux Arts structure, quickly became a sensation, attracting more than 4.6 million visitors in 1931 alone. But before any visitors set foot inside, quite a bit of work had to be done. To begin with, the more than 200 tanks that occupied the six galleries and one exhibit hall radiating from the central rotunda each had to be filled with fresh or salt water to match the needed aquatic environment. While the first salt water, all 1 million gallons of it, was shipped by rail from Key West, Lake Michigan has always been the source of the fresh water. Today, all the exhibit water comes from the lake, with the Aquarium mixing its own salt water. To transport fishes, Shedd initially relied on a custom-built railroad car converted into a virtual traveling aquarium, dubbed the Nautilus. Today, fishes travel to Chicago by air in oxygen-filled plastic bags packed in styrofoam boxes. The Aquarium's research vessel, the R/V Coral Reef II, takes staff members to sites around Florida and the Bahamas to collect species for many of the exhibits. Today, more than 6,000 fishes, reptiles, amphibians, mammals and invertebrates of approximately 750 different species are on display at Shedd. In the last decade, the venerable institution has undergone extensive restoration. Besides an update of the Caribbean Reef exhibit with state-of-the-art amenities for both the fishes and guests, the rotunda in which the reef sits was restored to all its Beaux Arts splendor, including the massive skylight, which was painted over for decades. The ornate rotunda clock, which marks the hours with aquatic animals instead of numbers, was put in working order after sitting idle for over 15 years. Much of this work was spurred by the overwhelming success of the latest addition to Shedd Aquarium, the Oceanarium, completed in 1991. Because of the unique nature of the Oceanarium, enormous amounts of building materials were required, including:
Shedd Aquarium is more than exhibits. It is reaching out to young people throughout the Chicago area with educational efforts such as its mentoring program. Staff mentors help provide students with opportunities to stretch their intellects and become leaders in science, education and conservation. Shedd Aquarium provides a measurable service to the community. In 1999, for the fourth consecutive year, Shedd enjoyed the highest attendance among Chicago's ticketed cultural institutions, attracting nearly 2 million appreciative visitors each year. Many things have changed in the more than seven decades of fishkeeping at Shedd Aquarium. But our charge to protect and conserve aquatic life has never been more resolute…or more important. The staff and trustees of Shedd Aquarium are more committed than ever to providing the world with an awe-inspiring site to publicly display an vast variety of aquatic life, and to develop people's understanding of our relationship to and dependence upon aquatic life and its environments. Habitat displays like those in the Oceanarium reflect this commitment, as do the extensive research and the latest exhibit-building techniques applied in the effort to accurately portray aquatic environments, for the benefit of people and animals alike. The words of Melvin A. Traylor, president of the Shedd Aquarium Society from 1924 to 1934, remain as true today as they were then. "The John G. Shedd Aquarium … continue(s) to be a fitting memorial to its donor and a lasting credit to the city he loved." |
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