DuPage County Historical Museum

The museum is free and a nice place to stop in if you have kids and are walking around downtown Wheaton. They have a charming train display on the lower level that children tend to love! The main floor focuses on local Illinois history.

It's a small place, and the upper level is currently under construction, but being free makes it well worthwhile even as they spruce things up.

Love this place for the trains display in the basement. I posted a video on YouTube but Yelp won't take the link here. Nothing that special in the ground floor exhibits... yet. Hope they come up with some attractive and educational items.

All of you that took pictures inside should be ashamed of yourselves. It's clearly posted throughout, now go sit in the corner for 10 minutes and reflect on your rebellious nature.

Ok, so first of all it's free. But, you can make donations ($4 is "suggested") I like places like this and was happy to make a donation.

The building is cool, it was built by John Quincy Adams (distant relative to the former President) as a Library, he lived across the street and gifted this wonderful building to the community.

Why only 3 stars you ask? I wanted to click 4 stars.. but when it said "Yay! I'm a fan." I just couldn't.

I'm glad that I went once, but that was enough.

Many of the displays are specific to only a few families that have made extensive donations of items, this is cool except that I was looking for more specific information on the formation of the towns throughout the county. Also, maybe some juicy gossip.. like the stuff about the how Wheaton became the County Seat.. or how the towns were named.. etc.. and maybe some founder's pictures.

The first room on the left is the main exhibit (and to me most interesting) There are some nice period pieces of clothing and family pictures. Quite a bit of information about the trains (and the stations and architects) that run through DuPage County and the Illinois Prairie Path that took some of their places. I spent the most time in this room.

It's easy to walk by, but when you first enter the museum, on the right is a display about the building worth looking at.. pictures of the museum going back to the horse and buggy days.. almost missed that because we were engaged with the people at the desk right away. (very friendly)

I didn't get the train exhibit in the basement, it was operational (push the button) on the day we were there and held our interest for all of a few moments.. I think you have to know and understand about these things. I was distracted by the placement of the buildings/locations in relation to the tracks, things were out of whack. I know it's supposed to be impressive.. but I was kind of "meh"

The second floor used to have a stage and seating. That's been removed but the room is still attractive with it's tall ceiling.

It's worth a visit, but I wouldn't plan a day around it.

A fabulous 7th grade teacher made my class take 'getaways' for class credit. We had to visit historical sites in the area and write up a passport about it. That was the year of my first visit to the DuPage County Historical Museum. I made Victorian style valentines and learned to dip candles.
I have been back a few times since then and my appreciation for this building has grown. I love it. As a kid, I remember driving by it and my dad saying "When I was a kid, that was the library." I'm pretty sure the nifty train set was not in the basement at that time. Some exhibits stay put and others change, so check the website, and plan a visit (If you are up for it, when you are done walk to the Little Popcorn Shop! History x2)

The model trains and toy room (both downstairs) are awesome for toddlers. Too bad they don't allow pictures- maybe more families would know about them if they did.

This museum is pretty small but had interesting facts about the development of our county and the surrounding communities. On the second floor was a tribute to the Girl Scouts who are celebrating their 100th anniversary this year and there's a huge model train yard set up in the basement of the building which was cool to see. It's a nice place to kill a half hour or so and then you can head down the block a bit for some Vietnamese (Luong Loi) or Thai (Mai Thai); either place is great.

Visited: March 16, 2012

I spent 45 minutes at the DuPage history museum this weekend and I was really impressed. For one thing, I'm impressed DuPage county has it's own museum. But also, it's a really nice museum!

Now, I'm not insinuating that DuPage county doesn't deserve a nice museum, not at all. I just didn't expect such a level of professionally done exhibits. It's not very extensive, the building isn't that big, but the quality and info is definitely there.

The basement has a big model train set up, that I understand they run the whole thing on certain Saturdays. Also, they have a play room for kids with both historic and modern toys.

Oh, crap, I forgot about the trains. The place closes at 4:30, it was 4:25, and I had been too engrossed in the old-school clothing exhibit upstairs. I actually got some cool style ideas. And I had no idea that there was a "language of the fan"; for instance, swiping the fan through your hand means, "I hate you." I may have to buy a fan just to do that to people.

I never liked American history, but that may have something to do with my Hawaii upbringing, cos, well, Hawaii really doesn't feel like the rest of America. (Because it isn't. I never cared much about Hawaiian history either.)

Something about living in DuPage County, a very nice part of Illinois, and America, made me want to visit this tiny museum, which I honestly thought was going to be dull but turned out to be a little too much fun.

Mourning gown. Bandage wrapper. Civil war journals. John Quincy Adams's wife's handwritten cookbook. The first kind of laptop (meaning a portable writing desk). A report card from the early 1900s that showed that teachers actually used to care about their students. Legit linen knickers that golfers wore.

Neat-o.

If you don't think it's cool, fine. Admission is free. But donations are appreciated ($4 for adults), and you should support this adorable museum.

Downstairs is my favorite place to bring the children I watch. The play area is great for kids who love trains. They have a kitchen area, books, games, educational displays. And the train display is amazing. The kids can watch it go by for hours!

I love museums. I love getting lost in the old timey-ness of it all. I could (and have) spent hours staring at every little detail in the medical exhibit and the model train. The story about how Wheaton stole the county records from Naperville is funny and interesting...
The library upstairs is beautiful, full of tons of information about DuPage county's past. Definitely stop by this building when you're in town.