Chicago’s 44 mil­lion+ annual trav­el­ers have the per­fect spot to find city infor­ma­tion and travel tools at the enhanced Water Works Visitor Center. The Center is located in the his­toric Pumping Station at 163 E. Pearson, along Chicago’s Magnificent Mile and across the street from the iconic Water Tower.

The remod­eled Visitor Center offers space for trav­el­ers to browse racks filled with maps and brochures about Chicago-area events, attrac­tions and tours, as well as com­fort­able seat­ing for them to review the infor­ma­tion and plan their activ­i­ties. Friendly and knowl­edge­able vis­i­tor infor­ma­tion rep­re­sen­ta­tives are on hand to answer ques­tions and help vis­i­tors cre­ate an action-packed itinerary.

The Visitor Center is also home to:

• First Slice Pie Cafe – First Slice Pie Cafe serves pizza, sand­wiches, soups, sal­ads and home­made pie. A por­tion of all pro­ceeds is donated to the First Slice com­mu­nity kitchen, which pro­vides meals to home­less men, women and children.
• Hot Tix – Operated by the League of Chicago Theatres, Hot Tix offers half-price tick­ets to more than 200 the­aters through­out the Chicago area. Hot Tix are avail­able up to six days in advance and on the day of the show. The show list is updated con­tin­u­ously on www.hottix.org as tick­ets become avail­able. Hot Tix is also an autho­rized Ticketmaster outlet.
• Chicago Public Library – The Chicago Public Library offers Chicago ref­er­ence books for vis­i­tors to read in the build­ing. The Library also pro­vides a small col­lec­tion for Chicago library card hold­ers to check out, in addi­tion to serv­ing as a pick-up loca­tion for mate­ri­als ordered online by card holders.

“As Chicago grows in pop­u­lar­ity as a major des­ti­na­tion, this enhanced Visitor Center allows us to con­tinue to pro­vide excel­lent ser­vice to our many vis­i­tors from around the world,” said Chicago Office of Tourism Director Dorothy Coyle. “The new ten­ants — First Slice Café and the Chicago Public Library – offer new oppor­tu­ni­ties for vis­i­tors and locals alike to expe­ri­ence the very best of our city.”

The Visitor Information Center is open Monday – Thursday from 8am – 7pm; Friday from 8am – 6pm; Saturday from 9am – 6pm; Sunday from 10am – 6pm; and Holidays from 10am – 4pm. It will be closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Days. Hours for First Slice Café, Hot Tix and the Chicago Public Library may vary.

Built on the site of Chicago’s first munic­i­pally owned water works in 1867, the Water Works Pumping Station was com­pleted in 1869 as part of a plan devel­oped by Ellis Sylvester Chesbrough, Chicago’s first Commissioner of Public Works. Located across Michigan Avenue from the Historic Water Tower, the Pumping Station was, in turn, con­nected via a tun­nel to a wooden pen­tag­o­nal intake crib located two miles east, off­shore in Lake Michigan.

The Chicago Office of Tourism also oper­ates a Visitor Information Center in the Chicago Cultural Center (77 E. Randolph Street) and the Millennium Park Welcome Center (201 E. Randolph.) Visitors can also find infor­ma­tion about Chicago at www.explorechicago.org, the city’s offi­cial tourism web­site, or by call­ing 877-CHICAGO. The TTY toll-free num­ber for the hear­ing impaired is 1.866.710.0294.

Photo by scmike­bur­ton

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