Shedd Aquarium (formally the John G. Shedd Aquarium) is a municipal public aquarium in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is operated by the Chicago Park District, a municipal government agency of the City of Chicago.
Opened on May 30, 1930, the 5 million US gal (19,000,000 L; 4,200,000 imp gal) aquarium holds about 32,000 animals. It is the third largest aquarium in the Western Hemisphere (after the Georgia Aquarium and The Seas at Epcot) and the 11th-largest aquarium in the world.
The Near South Side is a community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States, just south of the downtown central business district, the Loop. The Near South Side's boundaries are as follows: North—Roosevelt Road (1200 S); South—26th Street; West—Chicago River between Roosevelt and 18th Street, Clark Street between 18th Street and Cermak Road, Federal between Cermak Road and the Stevenson Expressway just south of 25th Street, and Clark Street again between the Stevenson and 26th Street; and East—Lake Michigan.
Along Lake Shore Drive, the Near South Side includes some of Chicago's best-known structures: Soldier Field, home of the NFL's Chicago Bears; McCormick Place, Chicago's primary convention center; the Museum Campus, which contains the Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Adler Planetarium; and Northerly Island. The area is currently undergoing a major residential and mixed-use redevelopment.
Museum Campus is a 57-acre (23 ha) park in Chicago along Lake Michigan. It encompasses five of the city's major attractions: the Adler Planetarium, America's first planetarium; the Shedd Aquarium; the Field Museum of Natural History; Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League; and the Lakeside Center of McCormick Place. Spanning from Roosevelt Road in the north to the terminus of the Stevenson Expressway at Lake Shore Drive in the south, the Museum Campus consists of the southeastern portion of Grant Park, the entirety of Northerly Island, and the northern portion of Burnham Park.
The Adler Planetarium is a municipal public museum for astronomy in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is operated by the Chicago Park District, a municipal government agency of the City of Chicago. It is the first planetarium in the United States.
It was founded in 1930 by local businessman Max Adler. Located on the northeastern tip of Northerly Island on Lake Michigan, the Adler Planetarium was the first planetarium in the United States. It is part of Chicago's Museum Campus, which includes the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum of Natural History. The Planetarium's mission is to inspire exploration and understanding of the universe.