A Visit to the Wilmette Historical Museum

November 29th, 2009 by Anne West
Categories: Wilmette

Wilmette Historical Museum

Why is it that you can travel to Paris or Rome and see every museum and landmark the city has to offer, but you never quite get around to seeing the things your own city has to offer? I lived in Chicago for about 8 years before I ever managed to go to the top of the Sears Willis Tower, and then it was only because I had relatives in town who wanted to go. I finally went on the architectural boat tour after about 10 years when my college friends came to visit (I highly recommend it, by the way).

But I do love history and I do love old things, so when my eight year old daughter suggested a visit to the Wilmette Historical Museum, it seemed like a good alternative to shopping for door busters on Black Friday. She had been to the museum the week before on a class field trip and she was anxious to show me around. Of course, her idea of showing me around was to rush me through the exhibits on the way to the authentic jail cells that date from the building’s previous role as Gross Point Town hall. The jail is definitely the feature attraction for the third graders.

I did manage to check out a wonderful exhibit of wedding dresses through the years since the town’s early days as well as an exhibit about Roemer Park and the early days of youth baseball in Wilmette. And I did learn a little more about Antoine and Archange Ouilmette, after whom our village is named.

And the museum itself is an important part of local history. It was built in 1896 as the Village Hall of Gross Point, a farming community of German immigrants just west of Wilmette. The village derived most of its tax revenues from the many saloons along Ridge and Illinois Roads. When the temperance movement ushered in Prohibition, the village was driven into bankruptcy. Gross Point was annexed by Wilmette in 1924.

We enjoyed our visit and spent a good chunk of time talking with the curator, Patrick Leary, who can tell you just about anything you want to know about the history of this area. We are now proud members of the museum and look forward to learning more about Wilmette’s history.

Tags: North Shore history, Wilmette, Wilmette Historical Museum

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 29th, 2009 at 12:17 pm and is filed under Wilmette. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.