Mendota Museum & Historical Society

Mendota Museum & Historical Society Dedicated to the preservation of the history and heritage of the Mendota area. Mendota Museums Admission Prices
FREE for all ages

Curt Johnson will be here tomorrow at 6pm to discuss the rich history of Illinois Gunmakers! Stop by the Pioneer Room at...
06/24/2026

Curt Johnson will be here tomorrow at 6pm to discuss the rich history of Illinois Gunmakers! Stop by the Pioneer Room at 907 Washington to check it out! Admission will be $10 at the door, or you can reserve your spot online at our website by clicking the link below!

https://mendotamuseums.org/product/illinois-gunmakers-presentation/

Hi all. We want to quickly let you know about a really outstanding film that will be premiered early next month. This fi...
06/21/2026

Hi all. We want to quickly let you know about a really outstanding film that will be premiered early next month. This film is all about the history of the Underground Railroad in LaSalle Co. in the years prior to the American Civil War and is a really amazing collaboration between many of the museums and historic sites here in LaSalle Co. Tickets can be purchased through the Ottawa Historical & Scouting Heritage Museum in Ottawa. If you can make it to one of the showings, we highly recommend.

https://ottawahistoricalscoutingmuseum.org/

We have less than a week to go until our next program. We are pleased to welcome Curt Johnson to Mendota to talk about s...
06/20/2026

We have less than a week to go until our next program. We are pleased to welcome Curt Johnson to Mendota to talk about some of the gunmakers who made LaSalle Co. their home during the 19th century. Johnson is a longtime collector of American Long Rifles and is the author of a book on Illinois' long history of fi****ms manufacture from the 17th to the 19th century. If you have a passion for local history or historic fi****ms you won't want to miss this program.

We hope you can join us in the Pioneer Room at 907 Washington St. in Mendota at 6pm on Thursday, June 25th. Tickets are $10.00 each and can be reserved online by clicking the link below. You can also reach out to us at [email protected] or by calling 815.539.3373.

https://mendotamuseums.org/programs/

We're so excited to be working with the Graves-Hume Public Library, The Fort du Rocher chapter of The Daughters of the A...
06/19/2026

We're so excited to be working with the Graves-Hume Public Library, The Fort du Rocher chapter of The Daughters of the American Revolution, and the City of Mendota on this wonderful celebration! Come on out to the Graves-Hume Public Library on July 8th and join the festivities as we honor and celebrate the birth of this wonderful nation!

What a crazy story from one hundred years ago. Mr. Edwards could have made a nice profit as a fortune teller.
06/17/2026

What a crazy story from one hundred years ago. Mr. Edwards could have made a nice profit as a fortune teller.

Our freshly painted Elgin Hummer windmill adds brilliant color to our Breaking the Prairie Agriculture Museum. This wind...
06/16/2026

Our freshly painted Elgin Hummer windmill adds brilliant color to our Breaking the Prairie Agriculture Museum.
This windmill original stood on the Dean Otterbach farm. He and his family and crew graciously donated it, along with the labor to install it on our property.
As it dances in the breeze, it is an operational windmill, less the water pump, which was what windmills were designed to do. Notice the rooster on the round counterweight ball?
This is our third museum and it is set up as a “window peek” exhibit. If you would like to visit inside, please call our office to set up a time.
Thank you for your support and donations.

We have a really outstanding program coming up in just a couple of weeks. On Thursday, June 25th we will be hosting a ta...
06/13/2026

We have a really outstanding program coming up in just a couple of weeks. On Thursday, June 25th we will be hosting a talk by Curt Johnson on the history of gun making in Illinois. Curt has a life-long interest in American Long Rifles, in particular those made right here in our state. If you have a passion for local history this is something you are not going to want to miss.

Tickets are $10.00 each and can be purchased by clicking on the link below or by emailing us at [email protected] or by calling 815.539.3373

https://mendotamuseums.org/programs/

Come check out all the fun stuff going on at Veteran's Park on the 14th! We'll even have part of the exhibition inside t...
06/12/2026

Come check out all the fun stuff going on at Veteran's Park on the 14th! We'll even have part of the exhibition inside the Hume-Carnegie Museum, so make sure to stop by!

Hi all! If you are looking for plans for tomorrow evening this show is going to be a belter. Tickets are still available...
06/11/2026

Hi all! If you are looking for plans for tomorrow evening this show is going to be a belter. Tickets are still available.

Address

909 Washington Street
Mendota, IL
61342

Opening Hours

Tuesday 9am - 3pm
Wednesday 9am - 3pm
Thursday 9am - 3pm
Saturday 1pm - 4pm
Sunday 1pm - 4pm

Telephone

(815) 539-3373

Website

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