Here are some interesting observations from other museums of the midwest:

• Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal — Cincinnati’s old train station, Union Terminal, is now the home of three museums (Cincinnati History Museum, Museum of Natural History & Science, and Cinergy Children’s Museum), an Omnimax Theater, and the Cincinnati Historical Society Library. At first blush, this sounds very similar to what Peoria is planning, but there are a couple of differences. First, notice that the name “Cincinnati” plays prominently in the naming, even though it also covers the surrounding area. Secondly, “Union Terminal takes up an area of 287 acres” for its five distinct wings; Peoria’s museum square takes up an area of about 6.5 acres for its seven distinct wings, Caterpillar Visitor Center, and 4 acres of open space.
• Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum — This reference/research facility and Presidential museum opened in 2004. It doesn’t mention Springfield in the name, but it does have a narrower scope than Peoria’s planned musuem. “The permanent exhibit is comprised of two ‘Journeys,’ two Theaters, a Treasures Gallery, Mrs. Lincoln’s Attic and Ask Mr. Lincoln totaling more than 40,000 sq. ft. of state-of-the-art exhibitry.” All of that 40,000 square feet is devoted to President Lincoln, and in addition to that space the library boasts “more than 12 million documents, books, and artifacts relating to all areas of Illinois history. This includes extensive collections of State of Illinois history; Civil War and, of course, the world renowned Henry Horner Lincoln collection. The Library is also heavily utilized for genealogical research.” Peoria, on the other hand, is planning to have about 70,000 square feet of exhibit space devoted to art, history, natural history, science and technology, African American history, IHSA, and other exhibits covering the whole region. Very little space, if any, is devoted to research or library services. In fact, the Peoria Public Library wasn’t even asked to have any part in the project.
• The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis — Guess where this museum is located. That’s right, Indianapolis. Guess what kind of museum it is. Yep, a children’s museum. See how easy it is to figure out when the name is so descriptive? This museum is 433,500 square feet situated on 14 acres of land. It “houses 11 major galleries that explore the physical and natural sciences, history, world cultures and the arts.” That’s a little over 39,000 square feet (on average) for each gallery. It also opened in 1925 in a carriage house and didn’t get a new, dedicated building until 1976, after its success was established. Its new building is also four stories high. An 80,000-square-foot addition was built in 1988 at a cost of $16 million. In 2006 dollars (according to the CPI calculator from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis), that comes out to just under $27.4 million. In contrast, the 70,000-square-foot facility Peoria is building will cost $65 million to construct.

When you start comparing, you start wondering how Peoria can do an adequate job of exhibiting so many different disciplines with so little space. Either there’s just not that much interesting art/history/etc. in Peoria (or regionally, if you will), or else our $65 million museum will be insufficient to house it all from the outset. I fear the latter is true.