Chinese American Museum of Chicago

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The museum building was built in 1896 as a warehouse, and was later home to the Quong Yick Co. The museum opened to the public on May 21, 2005. This is only museum of Chinese immigrant history in the Midwest. Before the Museum was established, it was a grocery Store. Raymond B. Lee, whose family ran a food wholesale business in the museum building, donated $660,000 to buy the building to start the museum. After a devastating fire in September 2008, the museum was closed. Lee, who as a teen slept on the third floor, has donated another $250,000 for renovations since the fire. It reopened its renovated quarters, the Raymond B. & Jean T. Lee Center, in 2010. The mission of the museum is to advance the appreciation of Chinese American culture through exhibitions, education, and research and to preserve the past, present, and future of Chinese Americans primarily in the Midwest. There were two lion statues in front of the building representing a symbol of power, good luck, and protector.