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Wonder Works, a Children's Museum in Oak Park, has 6,400 square feet of fun and exploration for kids up to age 10.
Originally founded by Gale Zemel and a band of faithful volunteers in 1991, the museum lost its lease in 1995 and searched for a home until 2001, when it purchased a building at 6445 West North Avenue in Oak Park. The museum reopened on May 24, 2003.
To date, we have raised nearly $500,000 to reopen the museum, which will eventually house nine exhibits. Significant contributions have come from the Village of Oak Park (through a Community Development Block Grant), The Oprah Winfrey Foundation, The Harris Foundation and McDonald's, as well as a number of individuals and families. In June 2004, we celebrated our first birthday with a fundraiser that generated $25,000 for Wonder Works.
Wonder Works is proud to partner with numerous city and suburban organizations, including Parenthesis, Oak-Leyden, Seven Generations Ahead, Vital Bridges, West Suburban PADS (Public Action to Deliver Shelter), Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust,Oak Park Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Oak Park River Forest Children's Chorus, among others. In addition to working with these organizations, the museum provides field trips and memberships to those who might not otherwise be able to visit Wonder Works. (If you would like to sponsor a family or a school group, please call us at 708.383.4815.)
Currently, we have more than 1,000 members and each month we host an increasing number of birthday parties, field trips and programs. To see our exhibits, click here or see the list to the right.
Wonder Works has been committed to preserving the environment since we opened. to learn more about how we "greened" the museum, click here.
To contact us, please call 708.383.4815.
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