Review of Cantigny Military Museum in Wheaton, Illinois

After enduring a very rainy weekend morning, the skies eventually cleared up and the family got a little stir crazy hanging out indoors. We put our minds together on getting out for a few hours of fun family time without the long car ride. As our options were limited and we preferred an inexpensive outing, we decided to head out to the Cantigny Museum located at 1S151 Winfield Road in Wheaton, Illinois.

Price

The cost of a trip to Cantigny is nothing more than a five dollar parking fee. That is the maximum a visitor is going to pay. The extremely low price is such a great deal considering this fee allows entry into both the First Division Museum and the McCormick Estate museum. For those that want to crack open the wallet or purse, concessions and a gift shop are available for those that succumb to the sudden urge to purchase a souvenir or a cup of coffee.

Museum

The First Division Museum has undergone a complete reconstruction since my last visit to this location which dates back about thirty years ago. The museum is a short walk from the parking lot located just beyond the tank park. Upon walking into the museum, we were greeted by a friendly gentleman that handed out a guide and gave us some quick pointers about the walking tour. The walking tour is quite interesting considering the museum visitor proceeds through the history of the first division from World War I through the Vietnam War. Each war through the walking exhibit displays some brilliant scenery and artifacts.

The first part of the tour has the visitor proceed through a World War I trench while observing machine guns, sample of k-rations, and a variety of other artifacts from the period. After traversing through the first theatre, one approaches a movie room that shows a six minute movie of the First Division soldiers getting ready to storm Omaha beach. Upon completion of this short movie, the screen/wall lifts into the ceiling and the audience moves forward as if they are the ones approaching the beach. The rest of the World War II exhibit shows additional artifacts of the first divisions before continuing through the jungles of the Vietnam War. It was quite obvious from this maze tour that Cantigny put a lot of time and resources into creating a very captive display of war footage with the right balance of audio and video effects.

Grounds

Upon parking the vehicle, the tanks are immediately visible to the naked eye straight ahead with various walking paths going into different directions. One path leads to the First Division museum, while the other paths will lead the visitor to the McCormick family museum and the beautiful gardens. The tank displays in front of the parking lot are a great amenity to this park as children (and adults) are allowed to climb on and enjoy. Upon venturing through the McCormick gardens one can observe a large variety of plants and flowers throughout the park are too numerous to mention, though I do plan on a return trip in the fall for some family pictures when the leaves change colors.

Overall Opinion

I highly recommend a visit to the First Division Museum of Cantigny. This is the perfect place to burn a few hours for those that live locally in the Chicago metropolitan area. The very low parking price of just five dollars and the ability to learn about brave soldiers of the First division is well worth the trip.