Chippewa Falls Museum of Industry and Technology

If you just visit the museum’s website it would seem as though the Chippewa Falls Museum of Industry and Technology is trying to hide the fact that they have the most extensive collection of Cray supercomputers and related artifacts in the world. This hidden gem has every Cray supercomputer ever made in its collection, including Control Data machines designed by Seymour Cray. They even have Cray’s desk with graphing paper on which the machines were designed using number 3 pencils.

In short: Visit this museum in the flesh if you can make the time and you find yourself moving through Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Organized and founded by local citizens, who wanted to save the rich technological history of the region, the Chippewa Falls museum opened in May 1998 with a mission to: “record, preserve and promote the history of industry and technology in the Chippewa Valley for our community. It is also to provide educational programs and opportunities for our children, relating to how our area businesses operated in the past and how they now operate in the present.”

In addition to a rich collection of Cray supercomputers, the museum hosts various hands-on learning activities and other interactive exhibits that document the history of technological industries dating back to 1840.