St. Charles History Museum

08/30/2026

08/30/2026

A huge thank you to the STC 6 breweries and me the St. Charles Business Alliance for their work and the success of this year’s STC 6 competition. And congratulations to winners Broken Brix Fermentation Emporium/Brother Chimp Brewing for their winning Belgian-style beer.

As our Executive Director, Alex Cullum put it onstage at Pollyanna Brewing Company brewfest- we’re very grateful to be the beneficiaries of this competition!

08/27/2026

Wow! Unfortunately, we've already hit our ticket limit for the 2026 Historic House Tour, and we have SOLD OUT! We're sorry to disappoint you if you haven't purchased your tickets yet, but we are already beginning planning for our 2027 Historic House Tour.

We suggest that you LIKE and FOLLOW this page, or join the Museum as a member to be among the first to hear about next year's tour.

May we suggest that if you are still looking for something to do on the weekend of the 13th, look into the Elgin Home Tour? Here are the details for that event: https://historicelginhousetour.com/

08/26/2026

Though she'd be known later for philanthropy, in 1922 Dellora Angell was known as the "Millionaire Teenager." She was courted by rich suitors from around the world -- from South American cattle barons to European doctors. But in the end, she gave her hand in marriage to Lester Norris, who the newspapers called an "artist and son of Cal Norris, the village undertaker in St. Charles, Ill." Actually, Cal was a furniture store owner and undertaker in West Chicago, not St. Charles

Lester and Dellora returned to St. Charles and bought a lovely home built on 5th Avenue. For a brief time while their new house was being remodeled, they may have lived (and definitely visited) at one of the homes on our 2026 Historic House Tour -- Saxony Terrace. Later, Lester's mom and dad -- Caroll "Cal" and Gertrude "Gert" Norris would live in this home. Lovingly maintained today by Joyce Cregier, this is just one of the 5 homes on our Historic Home Tour on September 13th.

Unfortunately, this event has SOLD OUT.

08/23/2026

Liz Suwanski, who owns one of the homes on our Historic House Tour, the Locke-Marchialette Home, was the winning contestant on the 2023 Food Network Show "Halloween Cookie Challenge." For inspiration, she brought a memento of her home to the show studios - a creepy doll!

Liz and her husband found the doll while remodeling their home. It was in with a large cache of items they unearthed. Without its hair and clothing, the doll looked, well, creepy! When the show producers saw the doll, they loved it! And when Liz made her cookies, she won the contest.

See the creepy doll, as well as other cool artifacts, when you tour the Suwanski home on September 16th. Don't have tickets yet? What are you waiting for?
They're selling like, uh, creepy doll cookies!

This is just one of the exciting homes on our tour!
Ticket link in comments!

Tickets and info here: https://stcmuseum.org/hht26

08/23/2026

He gambled a million dollars just to watch men sweat. He shut down twelve factories overnight to crash his own stock. And he never lived in St. Charles a single day — yet this town might not look the way it does without him.

Meet “Bet-A-Million” John W. Gates: barbed wire salesman, steel tycoon, high-stakes gambler, and the accidental benefactor behind so much of what makes St. Charles, St. Charles.

Join historian Steve Gibson for a free talk that traces Gates's wild rise from a failed hardware store owner to one of the richest men in America — and how his fortune, once it landed in the right hands, quietly rebuilt a town he never called home.

🎙️ “Bet-A-Million” John W. Gates: St. Charles's Accidental Benefactor
📍 Baker Community Center
🗓️ September 16, 2026 | 🕖 7–8 PM
$10 donation to the Museum -- FREE to members

Mark your calendar — you won't want to miss this one.

Tickets at https://stcmuseum.org/gates26

08/20/2026

We appreciate all the businesses who have stepped up to sponsor our Historic Home Tour next month. Thank you to another Step Up Sponsor Mendel Plumbing & Heating Inc.

Also, if you are walking or driving past the Museum, make sure you check them out in our Featured Corporate Partner window bay. You will see the evolution of the toilet! The Mendel team understood the assignment!