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Shedd Aquarium Facts

- the complete name of the aquarium is John G. Shedd Aquarium;

- it is located in the Museum Campus, together with the Field Museum and Adler Planetarium;

- the Shedd Aquarium opened with its first exhibits on May 30, 1930 and was the first inland aquarium with a permanent saltwater fish collection; 1,000,000 US gallons of seawater were transported in 1930 by 20 railroad tank cars that made 8 round trips between Chicago and Key West;

- the aquarium was a gift to the City of Chicago by John G. Shedd, a retailer and protege of Marshall Field (Field himself was a benefactor of the Field Museum located in the same Museum Campus); unfortunately Shedd only lived to see the architect’s first drawings ; his widow, Mary R. Shedd was the one to cut the ribbon at the official opening ceremony;

- construction of the aquarium started on November 2, 1927 and lasted until December 19, 1929;

- with an annual average of 2 million visitors, the Shedd Aquarium was the most visited aquarium in the US in 2005 and the most popular cultural attraction in Chicago in 2007.