Museum Of Science And Industry Changes Name After $125 Million Donation From Kenneth Griffin
CHICAGO (CBS) -- What would it take to change the name of one of Chicago's venerable museums?
$125 million.
The Museum Of Science and Industry on Thursday announced that it will now be known at the Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry.
The change comes as the Illinois' richest man, Kenneth Griffin, donated $125 million from his charitable fund to MSI, er, KCG/MSI.
It is the largest single gift ever for the museum, which opened in 1933.
"These funds will allow us to continue providing the kind of experiences and programs that MSI has become known for," museum CEO David Mosena said in a statement. "It will ensure that we can keep creating exhibits that open eyes and minds to what the future might hold and show young people how they can help create the world that awaits."
One of those exhibits will be a new Pixel Studio, a state-of-the-art digital gallery and performance space "that will be the only experience of its kind in North America,'' according to the MSI website.
"The Museum of Science and Industry celebrates our greatest scientific and commercial achievements and ignites the imaginations of all who visit," said Griffin, founder and chief executive officer of the global investment company Citadel. "As one of the most important institutions of science in the world, the Museum's impact extends far beyond its halls. I am honored to support MSI's mission to inspire the next generation of scientific exploration and innovation."
The original benefactor for the Museum of Science and Industry was Sears, Roebuck and Company president and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald.
The museum was incorporated as the 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, a Hyde Park Herald historical account noted.
"How ironic that Rosenwald hesitated to achieve recognition through the use of his name, yet today the Sears Tower is known as Willis Tower," Susan O'Connor Davis wrote in the 2015 article.
Indeed, on Twitter, some Chicagoans were not pleased about the name change – and some compared it to the 2009 renaming of the Sears Tower as the Willis Tower.
I call it the #SearsTower and will until I die. Who's Willis?
I call it Macy's but know it'll never be better than Marshall Fields
I still call it "The World" music theater
It's Sox park.
and I'll never call it the Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry #Chicago
— Booger Minefield QB1 (@pugsandco) October 3, 2019
Sorry, it will always be the Museum of Science and Industry to me. Wonderful childhood memories of this place. : )
(Do you think children are really going to remember all that? The whole Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry?) https://t.co/sEK7zIkfP2
— Dr. Vicki Hayes (@WonderfulwomanK) October 3, 2019
I'm not even *from* Chicago, and I call the Willis tower the Sears tower. But now that I *am* in Chicago, it will always be the Museum of Science and Industry. Not Griffin whatever. https://t.co/dRSuiB1Rtp
— g (@gcendana) October 3, 2019
But others pointed out that the name "Museum of Science and Industry" is not being stripped from the museum – only getting another name in front of it.
What's everyone freaking out about? MSI isn't changing it's name. It's just adding the donor's name to the front. They aren't asking you to call it "The Griffin." It's still the Museum of Science and Industry - yeesh
— Riderly ???? (@itzRiderly) October 3, 2019