Economy Museum

Updated: 2022-Apr-06

The economist Milton Friedman once said “There’s no such thing as a free lunch” — and yet the Economy Museum is free!

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Of course it’s paid for by your tax dollars and run by the Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis. The St. Louis Fed is famous for its excellent presentation of data, so it comes as no surprise that the Economy Museum would be award-winning as well, but why this tour remains a hidden gem is still a bit of a mystery…

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Located on Broadway within walking distance of the Arch, this is a good field trip for students who have jobs and are beginning to learn about money, debt and the economy.  You might want to open a checking account and credit card as part of the financial literacy experience…

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It’s best to create a small group learning experience, so bring a few friends, or perhaps another family pod. Bring your vax cards. Find street parking near the museum at Broadway & Locust, and make your way through the security check-point, after which you will be ushered into a lobby with short video. Plan on spending about 30 minutes inside the museum, depending on the interest and engagement level of the young people. The visit is short, sweet and self-guided trip.

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Be sure to play the BUY-SELL game located in the middle of the room, which mimics action on the stock trading floor. It’s super fun and why you need to bring a few friends with you.

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Get your picture taken with the giant Lincoln penny in the middle of the room. The photographer regrets the lack of teenager to show you the scale. The penny is quite large.

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Towards the end of the exhibit, hunt for the short video on the wall that illustrates how everything gets better, when viewed through the lens of data; a comforting message in today’s world.  (Except for WWI, of course, when so many young men died.)

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After exiting the exhibit, you will enter a small gift store where you can pick up a bag of free shredded money!  As a special treat for hungry teenagers, Sugar-Fire BBQ is a three minute walk around the corner.  The Blues Museum is located adjacent to Sugar-Fire and is also an excellent destination — making for a perfect teenage trifecta stay-cation.

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Check the schedule before you go, as the Economy Museum is open only during office hours and not on weekends.  The “dog days of summer”, when it’s too hot to do anything else, is the perfect time to go.

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Here are your links to the Economy Museum, to Sugar-Fire and to the Blues Museum.

Here’s the link to FRED, possibly the most trusted economic data in the world.

And here’s the GPS to the Economy Museum at the Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis:

One Federal Reserve Plaza; 63102 – (Locust & Broadway)

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