What is the CMC?

 

I'm glad you asked! The CMC stands for the Cincinnati Museum Center, a museum open to the public. There are a few different options for admission. For $65, you can get an individual admission, which covers parking and gets you into all the museums for free, this also applies to the featured exhibits. Where you can either get in for free or at discounted prices. If you don't feel like paying the $65, no problem! There are single day admission packages which includes the general admission ticket and parking. General admission starts at $17.50 for guests between 13 to 59 years old. The children and seniors' general admission is $12.00. If you decide to not do the admission package, the parking is $6 at the gate. The CMC is a wonderful place to visit, and pretty interesting in my opinion as the building itself has about as much history as the artifacts within its walls. You may be asking yourself what I mean when I say that, and I'm happy to explain. 

You see, before the Cincinnati Museum Center was the CMC, it was called the Union Terminal. The Union Terminal lasted from the years 1933 to 1990, where two Cincinnati museums bought the property and merged together as the Cincinnati Museum Center. Before 1990, Union terminal joined 7 key railroads, and their companies, operating passenger trains between the 7 stations and itself. These railroads were: 

1. Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
2. Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
3. Louisville and Nashville Railroad
4. Norfolk and Western Railway
5. Pennsylvania Railroad
6. Southern Railway
7. Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway

The Union Terminal also housed an Amtrak station, its only train being one that left at 4 in the morning and traveled to Chicago. While the rest of the station has been remodeled into the museum as we know it, the amtrak station within still remains untouched, the waiting room seats empty, ghosts of past travelers occupying them as they wait for the next train to arrive in the station. 

(Picture Credit: Myself, Taylor Morgan)

While it is no longer serving passengers on trains, it is serving passengers who want to take a trip back in time to either explore the past of their home town or the past of their home planet. CMC's main goal is to educate people in a way that is both entertaining and practical.