Chicago Tribune
Freedom Center
777 West Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60610
(312) 222-2116
If you and your family have ever wondered what goes into producing your Sunday paper, this tour provides a great opportunity to find out. The Chicago Tribune produces over one million Sunday papers, and as many as 70,000 newspapers per hour on their huge offset presses. On this "factory" tour, you'll get a close-up view of how the paper is produced, from the warehousing of the raw paper to bundling and delivery.
Producing the Chicago Tribune is a major operation. Train tracks run to the warehouse to deliver up to 20 railroad cars full of paper delivered each weekday. Luckily, the newsprint used is predominantly made of recycled paper. From the observation deck within the plant, you'll see mammoth black-and-white and color tower presses printing, cutting, and folding the paper into sections. Moving to the packaging area, you'll observe advertising sections being inserted (I always wondered how they got there), and papers being bundled for delivery.
While the best time to observe this process is during production, it's hard to know whether the presses will be running at the time of your visit. If this is important to you, call for more information.
Open: Tours take place on weekdays at 9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Age Limits: Must be 10 years of age or older to take this tour.
