City Museum is a 10-story, 600,000 square-foot fun house that’s located in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. What was once the warehouse of the International Shoe Company, has been transformed into a playhouse for adults and kids alike, featuring simulated caves, numerous cubbyholes, floor chutes, and labyrinths that have been constructed from repurposed objects. Here’s some more information on this weird and wonderful museum.
History
The artist couple Bob and Gail Cassilly bought the former Shoe Company warehouse in 1993 and hired a group of sculptors, painters, and welders—dubbed the Cassilly crew—to transform the space into “a city within a city.” The first project that the team tackled was to build a 500-foot concrete and wrought-iron fence around the parking area of the warehouse, after which they embarked on their secret construction inside the warehouse over the next few years.
During this time, thousands of soda bottles and safety deposit boxes were glued into the walls of the warehouse and old cement mixer chutes were hauled in and welded together to form slides. In 1997, the doors of City Museum were officially opened and thousands of curious visitors flocked to the venue.
Slides and Rides
City Museum boasts many exciting slides and rides. Apart from the 10-story slide, which is the longest slide in the building, and the Ferris wheel, which is the tallest ride, each floor features slides, rides, and much more. The first floor, for instance, houses the Tree House Spiral slide, the Tree House Chute, and the Monster slide, among others, and also features “enchanted caves.”
On the third floor, there are multiple slides for toddlers, such as the Toddler Town Dolphin slide and the Toddler Town Castle slide. The slides are not limited to the interior but have also been erected on the rooftop and outside of the building, for instance, the Run Ramp and E.L. Nickell Co. slides.
Exhibitions and Curiosities
When you’re not shooting down a slide or entering an enchanted cave, you’ll see many curious objects while wandering along the numerous floors of this museum. Don’t, for instance, be surprised when you see the World’s Largest Underpants, a Human Hamster Wheel, or the World’s Largest Pencil—a No. 2 that’s 76-feet long and can actually write. If you look up a ten-story air shaft to the roof, you’ll see the pipes of a 1925 Wurlitzer organ that may at any time start emitting the notes of a Bach fugue.
You may also see a dwarf engineer riding the indoor train along the passages of the museum or the “puking pig,” which consists of an old boiler sporting an iron pig’s head that spews water every few minutes. If you’re not afraid of heights, you may want to hang over the edge of the building in the driver’s seat of an old school bus that’s been hoisted onto the rooftop.
The museum also houses curious collections, such as the bugs of Missouri, and the odd exhibition. A current exhibition that may be of interest is named “A Collection of Lomography Images Take in St. Louis.”
It would be impossible to list all the curious sites and wonders that City Museum is home to. The best way to find out what this museum has to offer is to experience it for yourself.
Image via Pixabay.
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