Friends of the West Chicago City Museum

11/11/2024

Happy Veteran's Day to everyone who has served our country.

If you haven't seen the wonderful banners downtown honoring many of our Veterans, be sure to do so today! https://westchicago.org/news/honoring-our-heroes-west-chicagos-veterans-day-display/

Image: 1949 West Chicago Centennial Celebration.

11/09/2024

As we approach Veterans Day, today we share a photograph of World War I veterans from our community.

Wesley Diebold, Leo Dieter and Robert Gustafson are pictured here from left to right with a fourth unidentified gentleman. The City Museum's archives holds a few other items that tell the story of these three men's service in what was then known as the Great War, World War I.

It is most likely this photograph was taken near the end of 1917 or early 1918 before the men left West Chicago. Sadly Wesley Diebold died in New York prior to heading to the European front in October of 1918 in the 1918 Flu Pandemic.

11/01/2024

We are excited to be partnering with the West Chicago Public Library District next Wednesday to present our program "West Chicago and the Railroads." This program highlights the many train lines that helped establish our community 175 years ago in 1849 and continue to impact West Chicago. An encore evening presentation will be held on Wednesday, November 13th at 7pm at the Fox Community Center in collaboration with the West Chicago Historical Society/Kruse House Museum if you can't make this day time event.

West Chicago Celebrates 175 Years of Railroad History: West Chicago was the first Illinois community created by the western expansion of the railroad west out of Chicago. In 1849 two train lines met here at the Junction, later to be known as Turner Junction, and the community grew up around that imp...

10/31/2024

Happy Halloween! We hope you all get more treats than tricks this Halloween! These are some fun memories from West Chicago’s 1974 celebration!

10/26/2024

It begins! Come out to Downtown Trick or Treat and visit the Museum 🧙🏼‍♀️ 🍬🎃👻

10/25/2024

It’s a fantastic Friday to get out and explore West Chicago today. If you walk through Oakwood Cemetery you can take part in our self-guided mobile Tales Tomstones Tell, or you can also see the stories shared at our in-person event earlier this month on our website here. We hope you enjoy hearing about West Chicago’s past.

Tales Tombstones Tell 2024 - Frank Whitton October 5, 2024 Marissa Garza 35th Annual Tales Tombstones Tell - Self Guided TourWelcome, history enthusiasts and curious minds! We're thrilled to invite you on a virtual journey through time with our self-guided tour of the 35th anniversary "Tales Tombsto...

10/14/2024

On this Indigenous Peoples' Day we honor the Native Peoples whose ancestral homelands are now part of West Chicago, including the Ho-Chuk, Kaskaskia, Potawatomi, Oceti Sakowin, Kickapoo, Myaamia, and Peoria peoples.

We cannot tell the story of West Chicago without talking about the history of this land and the Indigenous Peoples who cared for it for centuries. During our most recent field trip visit with West Chicago middle school students we talked about the Potawatomi and their signal station at the highest point in the area. You can see that symbol on the map image here; this location is now where today's Egg Yolk Cafe is located.

It is important for us to recognize the history, present, and future of Indigenous Peoples in our area. Despite forced removal of Native Americans in the 1800s, Chicago remains one of the largest urban Native American centers in the United States. Visit this WTTW segment to learn more https://interactive.wttw.com/playlist/2018/11/08/native-americans-chicago
You can also check out the Newberry Library's latest exhibit Indigenous Chicago and explore their large Native collection https://www.newberry.org/calendar/indigenous-chicago

10/11/2024

We were so happy to have Leman Middle School students join us yesterday at the Museum and see the downtown full of kids experiencing their town! Thanks for coming and learning all about West Chicago history!

10/10/2024

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who came out last Friday night for our 35th Annual Tales Tombstones Tell. It was perfect fall weather to share the stories and history of West Chicago. A big thank you to all of our volunteers that helped our staff make the evening possible.

If you missed the tour you can check out our self-guided tour at Oakwood Cemetery with your phone or through our website at wegohistory.com.

10/04/2024

The sky was really showing off during our Tales Tombstones Tell practice earlier this week. We can’t wait to see you all at Oakwood Cemetery tonight. The weather is going to be perfect!

Tales Tombstones Tell

09/30/2024

We can’t wait to see you all Friday night!

The West Chicago City Museum's annual "Tales Tombstones Tell" event is scheduled for Friday, October 4. Tours depart from the Cemetery beginning at 6:30 p.m.

09/27/2024

Tales Tombstones Tell is one week away and we are excited to feature some images from the Whitton family and their business that operated in West Chicago for 76 years. We hope you enjoy these images and will join us next Friday evening to hear more about their lives in our community.

09/20/2024

Our Artist-in-Residence is back in West Chicago! She will be hosting information sessions today and tomorrow at Gallery 200 3-6pm! Please stop by and say hello! She will be hosting Walk & Listen Session over the next couple of weeks.

09/20/2024

Tales Tombstones Tell is just two weeks away and we are excited to feature eight stories that night.

One of the families that we will be highlighting is the Martin family, pictured here during their 1925 family reunion.
Family members pictured here include the children of Christian Martin, including Henry Martin, Anna Glos, Leah Fairbank, Lydia Fairbank, and Hettie Fry, and other family members of the Glos, Fairbank, Fry and Barkdoll family.

Join us on October 4th to hear about the Martin family and more! Tales Tombstones Tell

09/13/2024

It was very cool to start off our week with the Big Boy UP Steam Engine coming through West Chicago, so we thought it would be fitting to do a photo dump with some information about our very own "Little Boy," the Pioneer Engine, the first engine through our community in 1850.

The Pioneer engine was built by Baldwin in 1836 in Philadelphia Pennsylvania and was used on the Utica and Schenectady Railroad. It was sold to the Michigan Central Railroad and then to the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad where it pulled the first train out of Chicago in October of 1848. It maintained a steady speed of 16 miles per hour and weighed about 12 tons.

In the fall of 1850, the Pioneer was leased to the Aurora Branch Railroad until their railroad equipment was delivered. Along that Aurora Branch Railroad, now known as the BNSF, that borrowed engine ran its cars from Junction/West Chicago to Aurora, creating the Burlington Route/CB&Q, and cementing West Chicago as the first railroad junction in Illinois, creating our community which was built around that railroad hub.

The Pioneer pulled trains on the Galena and Chicago Union (which was later the Chicago & North Western, now the Union Pacific) until about 1858, but it was only powerful enough to pull seven cars and such short trains were not profitable for the railroad. Then it began pulling construction trains, the paymaster’s card, and the railroad superintendent’s private car. By 1874, the Pioneer was retired from service and was stored at Turner/West Chicago. During its time in Turner/West Chicago photos were taken at the C&NW roundhouse before the summer of 1883 when the engine was first exhibited at the National Exposition of Railway Appliances in Chicago. The boiler jacket was removed, the tender discarded and the engine painted.

It continued to appear in many fairs including the World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893 and afterwards displayed at the Field Museum Locomotive Exhibit, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis in 1904, in 1913 B&O exhibited it in West Virginia’s Semi Centennial in Wheeling, and in 1933-1934 it was part of the “Wings of a Century” display at the Chicago World’s Fair and then displayed at the Museum of Science & Industry. In 1947 it came off display and was used by C&NW for its centennial after restorations including a new tender made, new parts put in, a small out-of-scale headlight added, and a fresh coat of paint. Its last fair appearance was at the Chicago Railroad Fair of 1948-49. At the end of the Fair, the Pioneer was placed in storage again. Models of the historic train were made and West Chicago prominently featured one during our Centennial in 1949. In 1972, the Chicago History Museum placed the Pioneer engine on display where it is still open to the public today.

09/09/2024

It’s an exciting morning! The Union Pacific Railroad Big Boy is heading our way! He is just leaving Rochelle, if you want to track his progress to and through West Chicago follow along here: https://www.up.com/heritage/steam/track/index.htm. We estimate he’ll come through anywhere from 9:45-10:30am.

Union Pacific operates North America's premier railroad franchise, covering 23 states in the western two-thirds of the United States.