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The gift
John G. Shedd gave the aquarium but saw only its first drawings
Shedd, a protégé of Marshall Field, gave the aquarium to the city of Chicago. His widow, Mary R. Shedd, cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony. Groundbreaking took place on November 2, 1927, and the first exhibits opened on May 30, 1930.
By rail
Seawater came from Key West in railroad tank cars
As one of the first inland aquariums in the world, the Shedd relied on a custom-made railroad car, the Nautilus, to move fish and seawater. In 1930, 20 railroad tank cars made eight round trips between Key West and Chicago.
1 millionUS gallons of seawater carried from Key West
The building
The central building is octagonal and topped by a dome
The design by Graham, Anderson, Probst and White comes from classical Greek architecture, more specifically Beaux Arts, to match the other buildings of the Museum Campus. Tortoise shells, dolphins, octopuses, waves and the Trident of Poseidon appear throughout.
Oceanarium
The Oceanarium of 1991 looks out over Lake Michigan
The Oceanarium, known since 2010 as the Abbott Oceanarium, houses Pacific white-sided dolphins, beluga whales, sea otters and California sea lions. Its main tank, Whale Harbor, is backed by a wall of windows.
Inland
It was the first inland aquarium with a permanent saltwater fish collection
The Shedd holds about 32,000 animals and about 1,500 species. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
32,000animals held, about
Day 2, midday
It comes after The Field Museum. Then Buckingham Fountain and Grant Park.
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The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Shedd Aquarium, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.