From today's Chicago Tribune Tribune staff reports Published February 10, 2006, 12:37 PM CST The Chicago Historical Society is no more. It's now The Chicago History Museum. The institution, now mostly closed for a major renovation, will reopen this fall with new public spaces and a new name that reflects a museum that welcomes visits from the public, not a private club, as many unfamiliar with its mission may have assumed, officials said. "The new name and graphic identity not only illuminates our unique role as an urban history museum, it also reinforces to visitors that Chicago's history truly begins here," museum President Gary T. Johnson said in a prepared statement. The museum, at 1601 N. Clark St. on the city's North Side, is scheduled to reopen Sept. 30 with gala events to celebrate its 150th anniversary. Nearly all exhibition spaces in the museum were closed and gutted early last year for a $27.5 million remodeling that involves reconfiguring every public space and changing much of the contents and display philosophy. Tribune staff reporter William Mullen contributed to this story. Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune Ellen Plourde http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~opindex/