City of West Chicago, Illinois

Where History and Progress Meet

Skip NavigationMenu
  • About West Chicago
    • America In Bloom
    • Community Profile
    • Demographics
    • Healthy West Chicago
    • History
    • Location
    • Media Center
    • Spirit
    • Welcome Brochure (pdf)
    • Close
  • Residents
    • Services
      • Animal Control
      • Bicycle Lockers
      • Brush Pickup
      • Cemeteries
      • Citywide Collection Event
      • Electric Utiity
      • Garbage & Recycling
      • Hydrant Flushing
      • Lawn Sprinkling
      • Fall Leaf Collection
      • Metra Lot Parking
      • Snow Removal
      • Spring Leaf Collection
      • Water
      • Water and Sewer Billing
      • Yard Waste Collection
    • Communication Channels
      • Annual State of the City Address
      • Blogs
      • City Maps
      • Coffee with the Mayor
      • Community Calendar
      • Forms & Applications
      • News Room
      • Social Media
      • Welcome Brochure
      • Window to West Chicago
    • Elections & Voting
      • Find Your Polling Place
      • Elections & Voting
    • Close
  • Government
    • Elected Officials
      • City Clerk
      • City Council
      • Committees
      • Mayor Ruben Pineda
      • Meeting Minutes & Agendas
      • Transparency Portal
    • Commissions
      • Civil Service Commission
      • Cultural Arts Commission
      • Environmental Commission
      • Historical Preservation Commission
      • Liquor Control/Tobacco Commission
      • Plan Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals
    • City Departments
      • Administration
      • Administrative Services
      • Community Development
      • Police
      • Public Works
    • Municipal Code
      • Code Catalog
      • Property Maintenance Standards
      • FAQs
    • Close
  • Business
    • New Business
      • Why Locate in West Chicago
      • Opening a New Business
      • Assistance and Support
      • Entrepreneur Testimonials
      • Home-based Business Standards
    • Business Help Desk
      • Business Registration Renewal
      • Zoning
      • Permits
      • Specialty Business Licenses
      • Forms and Applications
      • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Incentive Programs
      • Downtown Grant Program
      • Facade Improvement
      • Sales Tax Sharing
      • Streamlined Development Process
    • Awards and Milestones
      • Marketplace Milestones
    • Close
  • Explore
    • West Chicago Prairie
      • Walking and Biking Trails
    • Family Destinations
      • ARC Center
      • Turtle Splash
      • Wiggly Field Dog Park
      • Sonny Acres
      • The Shell
      • Klein Creek Farm
      • Parks
    • Historic Downtown
      • City Museum
      • Gallery 200
      • West Chicago Public Library
    • Public Art
      • Community Art Banner Exhibits
      • Signa Rotae
      • In This Together
      • Forever Lily
      • WCTU Fountain
    • Special Events
      • Blooming Fest
      • Railroad Days
      • National Night Out
      • Move with the Mayor Virtual Challenge
      • Mexican Independence Day Festival
      • Food Festival
      • Virtual Frosty 5K, Frosty Scavenger Hunt, Frosty House Decorating Contest
    • Close
  • Community Organizations
    • Hospitals
      • Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital
      • Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital
    • Religious Organizations
      • Arya Samaj of Chicagoland
      • Church of Christ
      • Community Fellowship
      • Faith Community
      • First United Methodist
      • Glen Arbor Community
      • Nueva Esperanza
      • New Life Bilingual
      • Real Life Church
      • Renewal Church
      • Resurrection Angelican
      • St. Andrew / San Andrés Lutheran
      • St. Mary Catholic
      • St. Michael’s United Church of Christ
      • Trinity Evangelical Lutheran
      • Water’s Edge Bible
      • Willow DuPage
    • Schools
      • Benedictine University
      • Benjamin School District 25
      • College of DuPage
      • Educare West DuPage
      • Elementary School District 33
      • St. Charles School District 303
      • West Chicago High School
      • Wheaton Academy
    • Community Service Groups
      • Access DuPage
      • American Legion Post 300
      • Boy Scout Troop 33
      • DuPage Homeownership Center
      • GardenWorks Project
      • Giving DuPage
      • Neighborhood Food Pantry
      • People Made Visible
      • Prairie Stewardship Group
      • Rotary Club
      • West Chicago Garden Club
      • Western DuPage Chamber of Commerce
    • Government Organizations
      • Dept. of Homeland Security
      • DuPage County
      • Fire Protection District
      • Wayne Township
      • West Chicago Park District
      • West Chicago Public Library
      • Winfield Township
    • Close
  • QUICK LINKS
    • E-Pay
    • Job Opportunities
    • Police News
    • How Do I…?
    • Window to West Chicago
    • Elections & Voting
    • Snow Regulations
    • FOIA Requests
    • Property Maintenance / Code Enforcement Brochure
    • Social Services Resource Guide
    • Welcome Brochure
    • Close

“A Sense of Place” – History Blog

December 27, 2016 By General Content

“A Sense of Place” is a blog written by the West Chicago City Museum staff and/or members of the Friends of the Museum, to spotlight West Chicago’s local history. Through brief capsules of local history the blog aims to prove that history is not dry and dusty, but alive and entertaining. Scroll to bottom of page to see the latest installments.

Museum Staff

Sara Phalen - Executive Director
Maggie Cappetini - Museum Educator

Contact Info:

City Museum
132 Main Street
West Chicago, IL 60185
Phone: (630) 231-3376

Hours of Operation

December – February:
Thursdays 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Fridays 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Saturdays closed

March – November:
Thursdays 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.,
Fridays and Saturdays 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Friends of the City Museum's Newsletter

World War 1 soldier leaving train station with people looking on

A Sense of Place – 100th Anniversary of Armistice Day

November 9, 2018

When we honor Veterans Day in 2018 it will also be the honoring of the 100th Anniversary of Armistice Day which brought an end to World War I on November 11, 1918. The Great War, which World War I was called, ended on the western front of the war through an armistice between the Allied […]

Share this...
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
Read More
Vintage photo of Wesley Diebold, Leo Dieter,Robert Gustafson and unidentified man, circa 1917

A Sense of Place: Honoring J. Wesley Diebold

January 30, 2018

As our country honors the 100th Anniversary of World War I, the City Museum is honoring those who served during the Great War, including J. Wesley Diebold, remembered here. Wesley Diebold’s story sadly tells the tale of another enemy of soldiers in 1918, the Spanish Flu. J. Wesley Diebold, one of four West Chicagoans who died in […]

Share this...
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
Read More
Vintage photo of Bond Drug Store

New Installment of A Sense of Place: Remembering World War I

April 21, 2017

As our country honors the 100th Anniversary of the United States entering World War I, the City Museum is honoring those who fought in the Great War, including Robert Bond, remembered here. Over the next two years, the City Museum will be featuring some of the veterans of World War I on its blog, as well as […]

Share this...
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
Read More
Vintage photo of family Zelda DeTray Dunbar

A Sense of Place Blog: Zelda DeTray Dunbar

March 24, 2017

As part of Women’s History Month, the City Museum is featuring a local female artist who lived and worked in West Chicago. Zelda DeTray was also featured during our 2016 Tales Tombstones Tell at Glen Oak Cemetery. Zelda Jewel DeTray was born in Quincy, Illinois, on July 6, 1895. She lived there for just a […]

Share this...
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
Read More

A Sense of Place: Meet George McAuley

December 22, 2015

During our 2015 Tales Tombstones Tell, we highlighted some of the graves that shed light on disease and medicine through our community’s history. We ended the tour at the grave of Walter M McAuley who suffered from a common 19th century disease, tuberculosis. Walter McAuley was born in 1826 in New York to George and […]

Share this...
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
Read More

Oakwood Cemetery’s Benefactors Featured in A Sense of Place Blog

September 18, 2015

As we approach the 26th year of Tales Tombstones Tell, the annual cemetery walk, we remember Dr. Joseph and Mary McConnell who gave the land for Oakwood Cemetery, our oldest cemetery in town. This story of the McConnell’s was featured in last year’s 25th Anniversary of the event. Joseph McConnell and his wife, Mary Thompson Fuller, came […]

Share this...
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
Read More

New installment: A Sense of Place

March 23, 2015

Helen Hills The Hills family was a prominent family in the early days of West Chicago. The Hills have been featured over the years in City Museum exhibits and in our annual Tales Tombstones Tell Oakwood Cemetery walk. Albert Hills was an important man in the early days of our community. He worked as a […]

Share this...
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
Read More
Vintage photo of Old Stone Jug Tavern in West Chicago Illiinois

100 Years of Downtown Support: The Lellios Family

December 29, 2014

An immigrant from Albania, Michael Lellios first came to the United States in 1912. Within a couple of years he had moved to West Chicago and had purchased property on Main Street, eventually going into business with his brothers.  Since that time, the family has continued to own property here and supported downtown business growth […]

Share this...
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
Read More

Edgar E. Belding and the Belding Moving Company

August 6, 2014

The Belding family came west from Pennsylvania in 1854, and Edgar Belding was born the next year in Rock Creek, Illinois (Carroll County).  He was one of the 10 children of Daniel and Harriet Blank Belding. When Edgar was 21, he married 16-year-old Caroline Holmes in 1875, and they moved to western Kansas with their […]

Share this...
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
Read More

The 508 Caboose of “The J” Has Come to Stay

May 14, 2013

If you’ve been in Reed-Keppler Park since April 3, 2013, you may have noticed a red caboose with “The J” and “508” painted on the side of it sitting near the parking lot of the Turtle Splash Water Park. Anyone growing up before technology changed communication methods on trains in the 1980s knows that almost […]

Share this...
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
Read More
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • Next »
Share this...
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin

Filed Under: Blogs Tagged With: Museum Grid

e-Pay logo and link_________________________

West Chicago City Hall
425 Main Street
West Chicago, IL 60185

Phone: 630-293-2200
FAX: 630-293-3028

City Hall Limited Reopening
Beginning Tues. 8/11/20
Tues., Weds., Thurs.: 8:00 am – Noon
The public is required to wear a
mask and practice social distancing
when inside the building.

Full details

REQUEST

  • Business Forms
  • Resident Forms
  • Elections & Voting Info
  • FOIA
  • LexisNexis eCrash
  • Permits and Applications
  • Utility Services
  • Overnight Parking
  • Citizen Online Reporting
  • Vacation Watch

VIEW

  • GIS Maps
  • Job Opportunities
  • Metra Lot Parking
  • Municipal Code
  • Newsletters
  • Transparency Portal
  • Quest Bid System
  • West Chicago on YouTube

STAY UP-TO-DATE

  • Join Our Emailing List
  • Police News
  • Public Works Projects
  • Latest News Releases
  • Blogs
  • Community Calendar (Desktop)
  • Community Calendar (Mobile)
  • Media Center
  • INTERNAL EMAIL

Copyright 2020 © - City of West Chicago, Illinois - All rights reserved - Terms of Use - Privacy Policy - Legal Disclaimer

Site by Technivista