Chicago, Illinois

Money Museum: Standing Inside a Million Dollar Shadow

Chicago, Illinois, United States

By the Wicked Cool Places editors · Published Sun, Aug 30, 2026

Why it’s cool

This small gallery inside the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago features a million dollars in a single glass cube and gives away bags of shredded currency to every visitor.

Midwest Hidden Gem

An open silver briefcase filled with stacks of hundred-dollar bills, with a sign reading One Million Dollars inside the lid.

While most people associate the Federal Reserve with serious economic policy, the ground floor of Chicago's branch offers a more playful look at the world of finance. This facility serves as a massive processing and storage hub for currency, acting as a bank for other banks.

Within its walls, the museum transforms the concept of wealth into a series of physical spectacles that allow visitors to visualize exactly what a fortune looks like in the flesh. Nearby, Woolly Mammoth Antiques and Oddities also builds its displays around physical objects.

Why It Stands Out

The exhibits here prioritize the physical scale of currency over dry historical text. One of the most striking displays is a transparent cube containing one million individual one dollar bills.

This massive block of cash weighs more than 2,000 pounds. For those who prefer higher denominations, two additional million dollar displays sit nearby, providing a backdrop for photos that most people will never encounter elsewhere.

Beyond the static displays, the museum features a machine that processes old, worn out bills. This device sends unusable currency through glass tubes into a shredder.

On an average day, this facility destroys approximately $10 million. Visitors can even look down into a retired elevator shaft that has been repurposed as a money pit, filled with more than $50,000 in loose coins.

Before You Go

Entry to the museum is free, and most guests leave with a small souvenir bag of mon-fetti. These bags contain the remains of shredded currency that once totaled roughly $400.

Because the museum is located inside a secure government facility, all adults are required to present a valid government issued ID at the entrance. To keep younger visitors engaged, the staff provides a trivia hunt pamphlet that guides guests through the various displays.

The Leather Archives & Museum is another specialized institution located within the city.

Questions worth answering

What kind of proof of identity do I need to get inside?

The museum sits inside the Federal Reserve Bank. You'll need to show a government issued ID to pass security at the door.

Is there a way to see what a million dollars actually looks like?

A glass cube holds one million single dollar bills. It weighs over 2,000 pounds and sits near two other displays of the same value.

Do I get to take any money home with me?

Every guest receives a bag of shredded cash. These scraps used to be about 400 dollars in currency before they went through the machine.

How much money does the bank destroy every day?

The facility shreds around 10 million dollars worth of old bills daily. You can watch the unusable paper travel through glass tubes to the shredder.

Visit Snapshot

Admission is free. All adult visitors must bring a government issued photo ID to pass through security.

Be sure to pick up the trivia hunt pamphlet at the start of your visit and don't forget to grab your bag of shredded currency before you leave.

Location

Chicago, Illinois

Know before you go

Adults will need a government issued ID to enter the museum. They have a fun trivia hunt pamphlet available.

Editorial source

Money Museum

Located in the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, a massive currency storage and processing center, the Money Museum tries to make money fun with zany exhibits such as a cube containing a million one dollar bills and a change filled "money pit" that would make Scrooge McDuck jealous. Despite being the source of depression and despair for many, the Money Museum presents the lighter side of cold, hard cash.

The exhibition is located in the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago which itself is a self-proclaimed "bank for banks." The Reserve was one of a dozen banks the federal government created in 1913 that were no more than 12 days ride from one another in order to create a more reliable system of currency storage and dissemination. To this day the huge bank stores billions of dollars, held for countless banks who simply run out of room.

The museum has informative displays on the history of American currency but its more outlandish exhibits are the real attraction. There is a machine that passes old, unusable bills through glass tubes and into a shredder right before visitors' eyes (Fun fact: the bank regularly shreds around $10 million a day).

The resulting mon-fetti is then given to the guests as a souvenir. Across from this display, there is a huge glass cube that is stuffed with a million dollars in $1 bills that weighs in at over 2,000 pounds of currency.

There are TWO OTHER million dollar displays just a few feet away, albeit in higher denominations, that people can take their pictures with. There is also a disused elevator shaft that has been filled with over $50,000 in coins, creating a cartoonish well of monies.

Admittance to the museum is free and in fact, factoring in the sack of torn up money most guests leave with (usually consisting of around $400), this may be the only museum that pays you to visit.

More in Midwest

All Midwest places →

A giraffe head with a red scarf stands in a crowded antique shop filled with taxidermy, figurines, and vintage items.

Woolly Mammoth Antiques and Oddities

Chicago, Illinois

This Andersonville storefront transforms the morbid into art, housing a dense collection of skeletal remains, vintage medical tools, and eccentric taxidermy intended to help visitors confront mortality.

A narrow alley paved with dark wooden blocks runs between brick and stone buildings in a city.

Wooden Block Alley

Chicago, Illinois

This hidden passage is the last significant stretch of wooden paving in the city. It offers a tactile connection to the era before asphalt when streets were built from timber and tar.

A bronze plaque mounted on a large pink granite rock commemorates Barack and Michelle Obama's first kiss in a garden.

Obama Kissing Rock

Chicago, Illinois

This three thousand pound boulder commemorates a private romantic moment rather than a political achievement, celebrating the human side of a presidential legacy.