Walking into one of the four history museums in the Tri-Cities area is like taking a step into the past. But just wandering through the museums without a guide (or a cheat sheet like this one) makes it difficult to spot the gems hidden in the clutter or know the stories behind some of the artifacts.
Directors at the local history museums can help patrons find the overlooked items and tell them the stories that make these things worth noticing.
These lists of the museums’ top five overlooked items were compiled by coordinator Chris Winter of the Batavia Depot Museum, curator Julie Bunke of the St. Charles History Museum, director Jerome Johnson of the Garfield Farm Museum and archivist Michelle Donahoe of the Geneva History Center.
Garfield Farm Museum
Black Java chickens: There are several historical breeds of animals on the farm, including this rare breed of chicken that was popular in the mid-1800s for its hardiness. The farm acquired the chickens from a small hatchery in Minnesota five years ago; now, about 60 of them wander the barnyard.
Mill Creek Prairie: Take a tour of the 31-acre prairie–which might look like any other but is rare because it has never been plowed. By going through the history of the land’s owners, the museum determined the property had been used for grazing but not for growing. More than 150 species of plantsgrow in the summer, including bergamot and marsh marigolds.
Butter churn: In the kitchen of the historic inn on the farm is a 150-year-old butter churn. Most old churns look like ceramic pots and have a stick in the middle that’s moved up and down. This one is different: It has a set of paddles that are turned with a crank.
Spinning wheel: This belonged to the original owners of the inn. It is called a walking wheel because one stands and walks back and forth to make it work, instead of sitting down. The museum staff sometimes demonstrates how the 150-year-old wheel works. It is in the inn’s ballroom.
Old versus new farming techniques: Make a close inspection of the differences between modern and old farming techniques by looking at the fields. Volunteers at the farm use old methods to grow corn, pumpkins and wheat on 2 acres, using a checkerboard pattern for planting. Another 200 acres are being farmed the modern way, with plants in long, dense rows.
———-
The Garfield Farm Museum is on Garfield Road, north of Illinois Highway 38, between Geneva and Elburn. For more information, call 630-584-8485 or visit www.garfieldfarm.org.
Geneva History Center
Steam whistle: This 2-foot-tall whistle was used at the Pope Glucose Factory in Geneva for many years. It was blown daily at 5, 6 and 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. When the business closed in 1907, the whistle was turned over to the city, which blew it at 6 p.m. every Saturday for many years. It is in the Working in Geneva Room.
Corn crusher: Assembled by Burgess-Norton, a Geneva company, this device was used to grind corn husks and cobs into livestock feed. Burgess-Norton, which will be 100 years old in 2003, now makes piston pins for machinery. It is in the Working in Geneva Room.
Ice skates: In the hands-on section of the Geneva in 1900 Room, one can hold a pair of ice skates used about a century ago to skate on the Fox River–they were strapped onto shoes. Another pair of strap-on skates is in a display case in this exhibit.
Photograph of Geneva’s gravel pit: What is now a history center used to be a gravel pit. This photograph shows Wheeler Park, where the center is situated, as a gravel pit in about 1900. In the 1870s, 10 to 15 railcars each day were loaded with gravel and shipped to Chicago for road paving. The photograph is on a wall in the Working in Geneva Room.
Swimsuit: Swimming must have been itchy and uncomfortable 100 years ago. Look for the man’s swimsuit from that era in the Geneva in 1900 Room. Made of wool, the two-piece suit looks like a dress. Boys can try on a similar swimsuit in the hands-on section in this room, and girls can try on a reproduction of a 1900 woman’s bathing suit, with its top, bloomers and bathing cap.
———-
The Geneva History Center is at 400 Wheeler Drive. For more information, call 630-232-4951.
Batavia Depot Museum
Calligraph: Before computers, there were typewriters, and before typewriters, there were calligraphs. The machine, which has a double keyboard with separate keys for capital and lower-case letters, is in the bank exhibit in the bank building adjacent to the museum.
Music box: Inside the VanNortwick family exhibit on the first floor, there’s a Swiss music box with a patent date of 1879. It plays Victorian tunes as beautifully today as it did in the 1890s when the family purchased itAsk a museum staff member to play it for you.
Kee & Chapell Dairy: Look at the photographs in the dairy exhibit on the first floor. Does the picture of the Kee & Chapell Dairy on River and State Streets look familiar? The building is still there, but now it’s home to Charlie Fox’s Pizzeria and Pub. This was the first dairy business in Batavia, operating from the 1870s to the 1920s.
Wilson Street bridges: Among the vintage photos in the lower-level photo gallery is an aerial view of downtown Batavia, showing two bridges on Wilson Street over the Fox River. Batavia residents know there’s only one bridge today. What happened to the other bridge? A portion of the river was filled in where McDonald’s and the Batavia Shopping Plaza now stand.
Decorative iron pieces: Challenge Co. was best known for manufacturing windmills. But many people don’t know it also made decorative iron pieces for Howell Furniture Co. in St. Charles. Several of those pieces are in a display case near the windmill models on the lower level.
———-
The museum is at 155 Houston St. For more information, call 630-406-5274 or visit www.bataviahistoricalsociety.org.
St. Charles History Museum
Painting of Stevens Sanborn Jones: Who is that gentleman who greets you when you enter the exhibit hall? Sheldon Peck painted this portrait of Jones, a St. Charles lawyer and publisher, in 1841. Peck was a farmer who traveled around the Fox Valley in winter and painted prominent citizens. The painting is in the entrance of the exhibit hall.
Karl Gartner photographs: Gartner was a World War I veteran who took photographs of men and women from St. Charles when they were home on leave from the fighting in World War II. The photographs are included in a timeline of St. Charles history that’s located on the railing around the perimeter of the exhibit hall.
Video of Thompson High School: Old-timers might remember this high school, now Thompson Middle School. They can refresh their memories by watching the television that plays footage of chemistry and food preparation in the 1930s. The museum recently found film from Lincoln Elementary School from the 1930s that has been added to the video. It shows pupils playing in the gym.
A Potawatomi Indian head: A statue of a Potawatomi Indian, made in 1915, used to stand in Pottawatomie Park in St. Charles. But vandals destroyed the statue in the 1960s, and only the head remained in one piece. The head is on display in the main exhibit hall. A new statue replaced the damaged one in the park in 1988.
Vietnam POW clothing: St. Charles resident Robert White was one of the last prisoners of war released from Vietnam in 1973. The museum has the clothing he wore when he was released. The clothes, which look like old hospital garments, are in a display case in the main exhibit room.
———-
The St. Charles History Museum is at 215 E. Main St. For more information, call 630-584-6967 or go to www.stcmuseum.org.
