West Chicago Historical Society/Kruse House Museum

Name: West Chicago Historical Society/Kruse House Museum
Address: 527 Main Street, West Chicago, IL, 60185, US
Telephone: (630) 231-0564
Price range: $$
Rating: 3.7

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West Chicago Historical Society/Kruse House Museum

The West Chicago Historical Society oversees the care of the Kruse House Museum. The Kruse House is a 1917 four-square home depicting the Fred Kruse family

04/18/2025

It may be a gray day, but signs of spring are blooming!

Mark your calendar for our reopening day! Saturday, May 3rd from noon-3pm!

11/28/2024

From our table to yours, may you gather with family, friends and many many things to be grateful for in your lives. Happy Thanksgiving!

09/12/2024

It’s Thankful Thursday and we can’t say THANK YOU enough to everyone who came out to support our Ice Cream Social last Saturday. The weather was perfect! And we had a wonderful time showing off the Kruse House, the beautiful gardens maintained by the West Chicago Garden Club, a fun cake walk for kids, a wonderful raffle and auction! It was a great day and we thank everyone who contributed to our fundraiser! This winter we will be repairing our historic walls and every bit helps. A huge thank you to our amazing volunteers who also helped make the day a success.

Thank you all!

08/17/2024

We are so grateful to have many of the original Kruse family light fixtures throughout the house. This “random hanging” or adjustable light fixture is stunning. It features Steuben glass with a King Tut design. It’s aurene-lined, an early 20th century American iridescent type of glass. It was purchased by Bertha Kruse in 1909.

Stop in today during our open Saturday hours noon-3pm and see this beautiful piece in person.

08/10/2024

It’s a beautiful day to stop by the Kruse House Museum from 12-3pm. While you are visiting be sure to check out the Olmec Trail and see this amazing artwork as part of this DuPage County wide exhibit.

07/20/2024

We are open today!! 12-3pm and we are free with a KDRMA Passport to Adventure (PS we have some at the door too:) It’s beautiful Saturday to stop and visit us!

07/06/2024

The Kruse House Museum is closed this weekend for the extended 4th of July holiday, but we hope to see you this coming Thursday from 5-7pm or another Saturday in July.

During our closed weekend, please enjoy these images of the Kruse women and family. Bertha is pictured here with her sisters and Celia is pictured with her cousin Vera Scharenberg, Amelia's daughter.

06/22/2024

It’s hot outside but wonderfully cool in the Kruse House basement! Stop by today from noon-3pm and explore our historic house!

06/15/2024

The Kruse House Museum is closed today for the Father’s Day holiday weekend, but we hope you enjoy learning a little more about Fred Kruse, the father of the Kruse House Museum family. We will be back open next Saturday.

Fred Kruse was born in Turner Junction on December 23, 1874. Fred was one of eight children born to German immigrant parents who had settled here. At the time of their immigration, Germans were coming to this area in larger numbers and by 1880 they had formed the majority of our residents, creating a bilingual community on the southwest side of the railroad tracks. Shortly after graduating from high school, Fred met and married Bertha Johanna Augusta Buchert. Bertha and Fred welcomed their only child, a daughter, Celia Leona Kruse, on August 14, 1896. The Kruse family built their
home at 527 Main Street in 1917. The Four Square style home of the Kruse family is the only one still standing of the four similarly styled homes that used to stand directly to thewest of Main Street and Route 59.

As many of our residents in the first half of the late 1800s and early 1900s did, Fred Kruse worked for the railroad. He started with the Chicago & North Western Railroad as a crossing flagman and worked his way up the chain, being promoted to a track laborer, a car repairer, then a passenger baggageman and eventually collector- a coveted job, as it was inside the cars
and was much safer and cleaner work. Work on the railroad was stressful though, no matter what position one held. Fred Kruse, sadly died of a heart attack while on the job on December 18, 1933, shortly after his train pulled into the depot in Chicago. He collapsed as he was readying the train for its return to West Chicago, and his return home. Ironically on that day, the engineer of the train happened to be Fred’s brother, John. John spoke to his brother just a few minutes before Fred passed away. In an even stranger twist of fate, John died of the same ailment on his way to work, just less than one year later.

05/09/2024

The Kruse House Museum will be closed this coming Saturday for the Mothers Day weekend, but we are open TONIGHT from 5-7pm for our new second Thursday of the month evening hours. Stop by and learn about Bertha and her daughter Celia Kruse, pictured here c1900.

04/30/2024

The countdown is on! The Kruse House Museum opens this coming Saturday from noon-3pm for the season! Our board has been hard at work updating our tour, training docents and cleaning the house! Be sure to stop in and see us!

02/28/2024

Love West Chicago history? Love Railroad history? Looking for ways to get active in the community with hands-on projects and no monthly meetings;) We have got the group for you!

We Go History, the new partnership between the City Museum and the Kruse House Museum, is putting out a call for volunteers to help with collections projects, railroad history projects, and special events.

Email us at [email protected] or call the City Museum at 630-231-3376 and let us know your interests in helping out and availability. Want to help remotely from afar? We've got projects for everyone! Whether it's one day a year or twenty, every bit helps our small organizations working hard to keep West Chicago history alive!

Address

527 Main Street
West Chicago, IL
60185

Opening Hours

9am - 5pm

Telephone

(630) 231-0564

Website

http://www.krusehousemuseum.org/

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