Ray Bradbury Experience Museum

Waukegan, Illinois is home to some notable American authors, including Ray Bradbury. As the author of such unique works as Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451, and Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury has forever shaped the way we view the world. Now, you can immerse yourself in his imagination through the Ray Bradbury Experience Museum.

Mission and Values of the Ray Bradbury Experience Museum

The Ray Bradbury Experience Museum was created to inspire imagination and creativity through engagement with universal themes and timeless works portrayed by acclaimed author Ray Bradbury. The museum is dedicated to honoring Ray Bradbury and providing an experiential opportunity for its visitors. Through transformative experiences, the museum’s team hopes that visitors can get to know Bradbury and his work better, including how the work has shaped the last century and his hopes for the future.

The museum’s core values include:

Integrity
Respect
Cooperation
Creativity
Inclusion
Historic preservation
Care and preservation of artifact
Economic development of Waukegan, Illinois

History of Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury was born in Waukegan, Illinois. He spent the first 14 years of his life in Waukegan, which helps to inspire some of his most notable works. Bradbury is best known for his works Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451, and Something Wicked This Way Comes. Bradbury was a prolific author who created more than 500 stories, plays, and screenplays. He often referred to Waukegan, Illinois in his work, affectionately dubbing it “Green Town.”

Bradbury was known for his wild imagination and has won major literary prizes and accolades for his works, including a National Medal of Arts, a Pulitzer Prize citation, and a Hollywood Walk of Fame star. His work spans science fiction, mystery, and horror. NASA even honored his imagination by naming an impact crater on the moon “Dandelion Crater” and the landing site of the Mars Curiosity Rover “Bradbury Landing.”

Information about the Museum and What You Will Find at the Ray Bradbury Experience Museum

The Ray Bradbury Experience Museum is expected to encapsulate 3,500 square feet. The museum’s committed engaged Chicago Exhibit to design and build the experiential museum in the heart of downtown Waukegan, Illinois.

It opened its doors in August 2020 to coordinate with Ray Bradbury’s centennial birthday on August 22, 1920. It allowed limited entry during the pandemic to show the public some current exhibits and plans for interactive exhibits for the future.

During the pandemic, the museum is offering online experiences to visitors, such as a virtual tour in which Ray walks around Waukegan and points out some of the city’s landmarks and their impact on his life. He talks about the library, his childhood home, a ravine he explored during his youth, Genesee Theater Another, and the park named after him. Another virtual feature is the “I Met Ray” video project that shows interviews with various people who met Bradbury and their memorable experiences with him.

The museum is continuing to seek funding to achieve its goal of creating an immersive museum that highlights the author’s works, imaginations, and themes such as freedom of expression, space exploration, boundaries of human endeavor, and magic. Hopes for the future include:

Traveling exhibits and programs
Virtual and augmented reality
Art exhibits
Dramatic performances
Academic symposiums
Writers’ workshops
Movie festivals
Comic conventions

Directions to Salvi Schostok & Pritchard

The Ray Bradbury Experience Museum at 13 N. Genesee St., Waukegan, IL 60085, is less than half a mile away from Salvi Schostok & Pritchard, P.C. at 218 N Martin Luther King Jr Ave, Waukegan, IL, 60085. You can get to our office from the museum by:

Heading south on N Genesee St toward Washington St
Turning right onto Washington St
Turning right onto N Martin Luther King Jr Ave
Turning left at our office