Being a born-and-raised Clevelander (and also a pretty active resident), there aren’t too many places in town that I’ve never been. But the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland’s Learning Center was one of those places. Which is why Matthew, Jeffrey, and I loved spending our Friday evening getting a tour of the  Money Museum, as well as the gorgeous bank building itself, built in 1923.

On our tour, we got to see the bank’s old, unused vault, which has the largest vault door in the country, weighing in at an impressive 106 tons!

We were also able to go inside the old vault and see the various storage areas.

 

We also got to see the beautiful executive office floor, but were not allowed to take any pictures for security reasons.

But my favorite part of the evening was exploring the Money Museum. There are exhibits taking you through the development of money from sea shells and rocks to more familiar forms of currency.

We also got to stand beneath the 23-foot money tree, which is the impressive focal point of the Money Museum…

…and meet Monte the Money Tree squirrel. I also liked the Savings Staircase, which shows you how saving money grows over time.

There were lots of things for Jeffrey to get hands-on with, including money puzzles and touch screen games, but the Money Museum is geared above a toddler level at the moment.

The Learning Center and Money Museum are open Monday-Thursday from 9:30am-2:30pm, except for bank holidays. This is a fun and educational way to learn more about the history of money, as well as check out a Cleveland architectural gem you might not have seen before! And admission and tours are free!

The folks at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland were kind enough to give us swag bags filled with Federal Reserve goodies and, since we got two (well, really three…and kudos for creating different, kid-friendly swag bags), I thought I’d give one of the bags away here.

In the reusable bag is a coffee mug, baseball cap, highlighter, notebook, a bag of shredded money, and some informative booklets about the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. My favorite is titled “Why Cleveland.” Not sure why, but the title is pretty catchy, don’cha think?

Here’s how to enter to win (you can do one, two, three, or all four entries, just leave a separate comment here for each):

1.Leave a comment here telling me if you’ve ever visited the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Learning Center.

2. Visit Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Learning Center and Money Museum and Why CLE? on Facebook and leave a comment here letting me know you visited both pages.

3. Follow @clevefed_lc and @WhyCLE on Twitter and leave a comment here letting me know you’re following both.

4. Tweet the following phrase and leave a comment here letting me know you tweeted:

I want to win a @clevefed_lc swag bag from @WhyCLE: http://whycle.com/2016/03/06/why-federal-reserve-bank-of-cleveland #giveaway

You can tweet once per day for additional entries, just leave a separate comment each time you tweet.

The giveaway will close on Friday, March 11 at 11:59pm and the winner will be notified the following day. Good luck!

***Disclosure: I was invited to attend a tour of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Learning Center and Money Museum with my family. While there, we received dinner and a swag bag. As always, all opinions are 100% my own.***