Learn all about the mighty Mississippi River at National Great Rivers Museum. Over a dozen exhibits of different types provide information about the past, present and future of the river and its inhabitants.
The museum is located near the confluence of three rivers: the Missouri, the Illinois and the upper Mississippi. Learn about the Melvin Price locks and dam, built in 1989 to replace an earlier structure. Take a tour of the locks and look down on tows guiding barges while raptors fly along the shoreline. Inside the museum, stand in the life-size replica of a towboat pilothouse where you can try steering a barge under a bridge and through a lock.
Operate the Stairway for Boats exhibit. Try to control the water levels in four stair-stepped pools simulating how water levels are controlled in the locks. Another exhibit explains how and why the locks along the Mississippi River were designed and built by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Communities: Habitats of the Mississippi depicts the three ecozones of river habitats: the river, its floodplains and its bluffs. Learn about the plants, animals and birds that live in these different habitats. Bald eagles are often sighted flying nearby early in the year during nesting season.
In the museum aquarium, view the longnose gar and shovelnose sturgeon as they have appeared in the river since the Jurassic period. River Timeline is a large display showing the history of the Mississippi itself. Mississippi in Motion shows how river forces have changed the course of the river over time.
Learn about sedimentation, moving water and the Mississippi River watershed. Ecology exhibits explain the importance of water quality and quantity and describe why limiting personal water consumption is important for conserving overall water resources.
The National Great Rivers Museum is in Alton, Illinois, about a 30-minute drive north of St. Louis, Missouri. Join one of the lock tours, which take about 45 to 60 minutes and are provided three times daily. Museum entrance and locks tours are free. Visit the museum during the Great Rivers Festival in June for music, crafts and activities.
